Now, it's Robin's turn
by SwarklesisOTP
Summary: Post-finale. Robin realizes it has always been Barney. She fights to get him back now.
1. Chapter 1

AN: My first fanfiction and English is not my mother tongue, so please be kind. Hope you like it. Would mean a lot to me, when you tell me what you think, so I know, if I should continue with this story.

He is standing in front of her appartement again. He is holding the blue french horn again. He is looking at her with his puppy dog eyes again. He is hoping to get back together with her – AGAIN.

But this time she has not the strength to refuse. She can´t go through this another time. After all, she has to be happy, when someone loves her. Even if it´s Ted. Even if it´s a man, she doesn´t love. She always wanted to be a famous journalist, traveling the world, not needing anybody. And after all, she got what she wanted: she became a famous journalist. But not even that: along with that she found a man who loved her unconditionally, who supported her, who traveled the world with her. But that was too much. She pushed him away, because she couldn´t handle it anymore. She had so much work in the different countries, but Barney never held her back. He never complained- instead he always waited with a smile on his face, ready to hug her, kiss her, tell her how great she does her work every day. However, after a while, she got frustrated. She felt guilty because she had everything and Barney had to give up his work for her. So she only saw one way to escape from that feel of guilt: pushing him away. She worked harder than ever, told Barney she was too tired to go out, too tired to go on some great adventure. She had barely time for him anymore and he started his blog again because he was bored.

It went like this for over a year until that crucial day in Argentina. Barney never minded traveling with her when she has been „his Robin". When she was herself. But this new self of her- only working, always telling him he doesn´t have to travel with her- got on his nerves. And then the fight escalated: there was no proper wifi-connection and Barney was furious and frustrated. It wasn´t about the wifi- it has never been. It was about her. She had changed. She had pushed him away all the time, had stopped telling him her work-stories, had stopped enjoying the different cities with him. And now she shouts at him and blames him because he wants proper wifi, so he can go on with his blog? Then Robin proposes to give him an out. Tears shot into his eyes, but he takes it. She doesn´t want to be with him anymore, she is fed up. He feels like a burden to her, so he takes the out. Sleeps with her one last time. One last time where they both cried, clinging to each other, not wanting it to end, but neither of them says anything, so Barney packs his suitcase and goes back to New York. They divorced.

In 2029 Robin was sent back to New York. She has traveled for almost 15 years now and accepted the job offer as newscaster in New York. She loved her job so much, but she has been on every continent and feels the urge to settle now. Back in New York she looked for an appartement and bought some dogs again, because she felt so alone. Marshall and Lily were all busy with their children and their jobs and she didn´t see Ted and Barney often either. Ted invited all of them to dinner with Penny and Luke once in a while, but the dinners always seemed forced because nobody knew what to talk about. And Barney, he was never coming anyways. Robin missed him so much, every part about him: his inappropriate jokes, his smile, his beautiful blue eyes, his soft hands, his tight hugs, his stories – just everything. However, since he had Ellie, no one saw him that much anymore. Lily and Marshall seem to talk to him sometimes, but Ted has no contact with him anymore.

Ted only seems to cling on her. At the rare dinner-evenings Penny and Luke always push their father towards her. They never get tired to assure her, how much Ted talks about her and yes, it´s kinda cute of Penny and Luke, but she feels pretty awkward every time they start with that topic again. Although Robin likes Penny and Luke and thinks it´s sweet they want their father to be happy, she guesses there is another reason behind their pushing: they´re teenagers now. They want to hang out with their friends and experience some great stuff themselves instead of listening tot he stories of their dad. And she can imagine, Ted must be really clingy, especially when Tracy passed away. Robin is also pretty sure, it have been Penny and Luke again who finally got their dad to run to her and stand in front of her appartement with that horn.

So, now he is standing there, clearly wanting to tell her about his feels. Her answer is a smile. A smile full of pain, because she pushed the love of her life away, a smile full of doubts that she will ever find a man again if she sends Ted away again. That´s why she allows him to come up to her appartement, to let him tell her, what he wants to say.

Ted is ridiculously happy that Robin lets him in. They sit down on her couch. He gives her the horn, declares his love, looks at her lovingly and she just smiles because she isn´t really listening. Then it´s silent. „Shit, that must have been a question.", Robin thinks. But Ted, oblivious as always, asks again: „I never stopped thinking about you, that´s why I kept the horn all the time. And I want to know, what´s about you- do you think about me sometimes too?" Her mind drifted away once again: „Of course, I have. But not in the way you might want me to. I thought about the gang in general. One time in Rio I saw a guy running around with a butterfly tattoo on his shoulder- that reminded me of you. But most of the time, I think of you when I miss Barney, because then I ask myself why the two of you aren´t talking anymore and why he isn´t coming to the dinners." Deep down, she knows, she should say these exact words to him. But, she doesn´t. Instead she says: „Of course, I did. I also have kept the locket." (He doesn´t have to know the story behind her still having the locket- he would surely not like it, because it´s connected to someone, he surely doesn´t want to talk about now. His name starts with a B.). Ted laughs full of joy now, grabbing her, intending to kiss her, but she jumps from the couch. Ted is confused and Robin knows that wasn´t the wisest choice when she wants him to keep him around, so she doesn´t have to die alone, but she can´t kiss him. Every part of her body cringes when she just thinks about it. So she whispers: „Oh, wait Teddy-boy. Not so fast. Don´t you want to see the locket?" He doesn´t care about the locket right now, but he also doesn´t want her to throw him out of her appartement, so he agrees. He waits in the living-room while she goes into her bedroom looking for her locket.

She opens the box where she kept the locket and gasps in shock when she doesn't find the locket, but a small piece of paper instead. Written on it were the following words:

Back in the day,

when you thought I was away,

I gave you a key,

and the story started of how you came back to me.


	2. Chapter 2

When she reads the words a silent laugh appears. The game! The awesome, funny and enjoyable game. THEIR game.

*Flashback*

Their flight was quite uneventful and they arrived at their wonderful beach hotel in Belize. They checked in and were ready for their hotel room- the honeymoon suite of course. The second the door was closed, Barney was all over her. He kissed her passionately and she joined it. Eventually they landed on the kingsize bed and rumpled the sheets. Soon, all the clothes were flying around the room, when Barney suddenly stopped.

„What´s wrong?", she asked, pulling him against her again. „Do you really have to wear that thing when we´re in bed?" he muttered, meaning the locket around Robin´s neck. „Why what´s wrong with it?" „Hmmm, let me think…maybe because Ted found it for you and now it stares at me." „Awwww, is Swarley getting jeaous?" „Stop that, it´s not funny. I know, he´s Ted- he probably just searched for the locket to give his life some point, but still. He´s your ex-boyfriend and I would appreciate it if you take it off." „I hope you know, you´re acting stupid, but I will take it off, if you want me to." „Thank you, Scherbatsky… oh wait, Stinson of course. I need to get used to it." „So you know what this was…?" „What do you mean?" „Our argument…" „Oh my god, this was our first argument…-„ „…-as a legenmarried couple!". They awwwwed together and laughed. Barney said:"So, what now, Stinson? What about great make-up sex?" (They already slept together as a married couple as soon as they could disappear for a second at their reception). „You´re an idiot", Robin smiled and they made good use of their hotel bed.

In the afternoon, they decided to explore the beach near their hotel. It was a wonderful one, with white beach sand and a blue, clear water. In addition to that it was a pretty quiet place and they were almost alone. The only people joining them on the beach were an older couple and some teenagers which seemed to be inhabitants. They swam a little bit, though it was more like going around in the water. It was kinda late and the water was pretty cold, so they clinged on each other to keep each other warm. Suddenly Robin felt some item in Barney´s board shorts. When she asked him about it, he pulled the locket out of his pocket. „What the hell are you doing with that, Barney?" „Ähhh… hoping it will get lost in the sea?" Robin pushed Barney away from her, tramping out of the water angrily. Barney held her back, telling her to wait. „What is wrong is with you, Barney? Could you please just let it go? I married you, not Ted! I don´t love him, you know that. He helped me find the locket, yeah, but that doesn´t mean I´m keeping the locket because I miss him or because I think of him. I buried it at my first visit in New York. It just reminds me of my teenage years. This is our freaking honeymoon, Barney, so could you stop it?" „Look, Robin, I´m sorry. I really am. I´d just feel better, if the locket reminds you of me not Ted. So, I thought we could make a little game out of it. Whenever we travel, one of us hides the locket for the other one, giving some hint of the whereabout. This way, I can find it for you, much more times than Ted did. Great idea, huh?" „Barney, come on, you´re childish…" „Oh, am I? I though we love challenges and games. It´s what turns us on… So what do you think?" „Okay, or as my crazy husband would say: Challenge accepted!"

*end of flashback*

They really played that game their whole marriage- except the last few months. She kept pushing him away, so she also lost interest in the game and Barney had too. At least she thought so, now she knows, she has been wrong. He still played the game, she was just too obnoxious to keep on their little tradition. He placed that piece of paper with the hint right in the locket box, waiting for her to make the next move. She never did. Instead she signed the divorce papers.

This night, she finally realizes, she was the one that gave up on their marriage, that she was the one who mistreated Barney. Now she knows it´s her turn to fight for Barney.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your Reviews, I´m so glad you like it. I hope you keep them coming! I swear, I will get to the point where Barney and Robin actually talk to each other and figure things out, so please stay with me. Oh yeah and I don´t own himym (my bad, because if I own it, the finale would´ve been very very different and swarkles would still be together), the Avengers or Finding Dory. Just in case.**

**Hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

She knows exactly where Barney´s hint leads to. She grabs a pair of key (yes, she still has this pair of keys too- she´s wondering about herself when she became the person clinging on things which remind her of the past) and wants to go. When she goes back into the living room she´s startled. She forgot Ted- oops. He sat there in high anticipation.

„Did you find it?", he asked.

„What do you mean?" she shot back, though she exactly knows he means the locket.

„The locket, you know, you just went in to the bedroom looking for it. Is everything okay, you seem kinda confused?"

There they were again, the puppy eyes. That guy is over 40 now, can he please stop with that look? When she first came to New York she found this look kinda cute, though scary. Now, she´s just annoyed by it.

„Ähhh, no. I though I knew where it was, but I can´t find it. Sorry, Ted."

„Oh no problem, most important thing ist hat you´re here. And I´m here. We´re here together.", he said pointing tot he place on the couch next to him. „Come here, Robin, there are much better things to do then find the locket."

Robin gulped. Nooooo, every part of her brain and heart screams. When has this guy became so creepy? He comes here with the horn and immediately wants to jump at her. Help!

She sat down on the couch anyway, though the voices in her head began a huge fight. One voice screaming at her, she can´t refuse him again, if she doesn´t want to end up alone, the other one chatting her up to throw Ted out of her appartement and go looking for the locket. It was a fight between head and heart. Robin despised herself fort hat, but once again her head was screaming louder.

„You know what, Ted? I´m aware we know each other since forever, but we should take this slowly, don´t you think? What about going on a date first? We could go to the cinema watching a new film, the new adaption oft he Avengers, maybe? I heard the new Maria Hill is not as good as the one back in 2012, but still."

She really hoped he would say yes. Cinema was perfect. She doesn´t have to talk to him and she will order a bucket full of popcorn, so everytime he tries something, she can eat a hand full of popcorn. Perfect plan and to her relief he agreed.

They went to a late presentation oft he film and Robin bought every snack she could get there. Ted wondered about her sudden appetite, but hey, he had a date with Robin so he doesn´t mind. Ted excuses himself to phone Penny and Luke and Robin looked around the cinema. She knows this one very well.

*Flashback*- 2015

They were pretty drunk and yeah, this was nothing special for both of them, but it was only 2 p.m. They were still jet-lagged because they just came home from their latest trip and decided to go out in New York. Barney and Robin went to MacLarens first, which was pretty empty because, as said before, it was 2 p.m., Most people were at work or had other things to do, the both oft hem were lucky. They chose a different booth this time- the one in the corner where nobody could see them. As exciting as traveling was, but there was nothing like the scotch at MacLarens for them. So they ordered a whole bottle along with some fries. Soon, a second bottle followed and Robin became more and more handsy and they enjoyed some handstuff under the table. Usually, they could do much more alcohol before getting so drunk, but as they were pretty jet-lagged too, they were completely over each other soon, giggling like teenagers.

Carl came over to them, kicking them out of the bar. They were pretty childish that day, so Barney started whining like a little kid when Carl ordered them to go out. Robin took some fries, throwing them at Carl: „Look, what you did to my poor husband. My Barney-Barney-Barn… Take this Carl." Carl pushed the two of them away: „Gosh, you two are drunk. Go out of here or do I have to call someone to get you?" Barney snorted: „You´re so lame Carl, when did you get so lame? R-Train and B-Nasty are here, bringing some awesomeness in your life and you want us to go. And no, whom do you wanna call? Lily and Marshall? Ted and Tracy? Oh please, they just lecture us. Come on, Roro, we go before too many lame people destroy our awesomeness." „That could never happen, Swarles. We´re too cool. Bye, bye, Carl. You throwing us out is your loss." The two of them stumbled out and Carl shook his head- those two have really found each other.

Out of the bar, they started kissing wildly while stumbling through the streets of New York. They ran into many people, but they ignored everybody else, just focusing on one another. Robin suddenly stopped. „What´s wrong baby?", Barney asked confused.

„Where the hell are we?"

„Ähhh, good question. No idea."

„Great, we´re lost in New York."

„No, we´re not! Look, there´s the cinema."

„Barn, that´s not THE cinema, it´s A cinema. I have never seen that before."

„It´s the one not far from your old appartement, don´t you remember?"

„Are you sure?"

„Yes, I am. OH MY GOSH. LOOOOK!"

„What the hell? I can´t see anything. Whaaat?"

„Finding Dory is in the cinemas!"

„Ähhh, you´re kidding me Barney, aren´t you?"

„That´s an awesome film if it´s only half as good as Finding Nemo!"

„It´s a movie for kids… Veryyyy funny, but for kids. And it´s 2:45… there will be only kids in there. We should come here later, if you want to see it."

„Noooo, come on. We´re already here!"

It went like this for a couple of minutes (mostly because both oft hem had a little bit trouble with speaking cause oft he big amounts of Scotch before) until they decided to watch the film.

They were sitting in the cinema with about 20 other people. All of them parents and their kids. Barney and Robin soon got attention. It started when they stumbled to their seats, Robin falling once and Barney landing next to her when he tried to help her up. They giggled and giggled and some parents were already looking angrily at them. Next, they realised, they forgot their 3D-glasses on the toilet, but decided not to get them, so they don´t get in trouble with the parents. It couldn´t be that bad without the glasses- and for Barney and Robin it wasn´t. They barely paid attention to the film anyways, making jokes about the looks of the fish and the animation, creating their own dialogues which made them giggle and laugh even more. The parents tolerated everything until they started to make out wildly. Some mother hissed at them to „behave like adults", which Robin indirectly answered with crawling on Barney´s lap intensifiying the make-out-session. That was too much for the mother. She stormed out informing some employee- and they were kicked out of the second place that day. But they don´t care, cause still, it was one of the best days of their lives- Robin and Barney against the rest oft he world.

*End of Flashback*

She´s is still in thought about that awesome, crazy day, when Ted comes back and hauled her out of her lovely bubble.

Ted and Robin go to their seats and watched the film. The movie was kinda cool, but she couldn´t really enjoy it. Ted tried to grab her hands every now and then and when she finally gives in, the handholding´s just really awkward. At least for her- Ted seems to be oblivious to the awkwardness going on between them and glimpses at her full of admiration once in a while. As soon as the movie is over he grabs her hand again, bringing her home. In front of her door, Robin has no other chance and has to endure Ted´s kiss. He holds her tight, clearly wanting more from her, but she finally pushes him away, says she is tired now. Ted goes back home and Robin´s alone again.

She quickly grabs the key for the storage and hails a cab. The hint was clear: Back in the day, when you thought I was away, I gave you a key, and the story started of how you came back to me…- the storage. She thought she had lost him when he announced his engagement with Quinn. It meant a lot to her, when he gave her the key to the storage where he stored all the things connected with their relationship. She cried so much that night at the storage when watching all the pictures of their happy times. She finally realized, she was not over him at that point, that she needed him, that she is more than jealous of Quinn. Her love for him was stronger than ever and after their engagement on the rooftop of the WWN building, she told him about her fears. Her biggest fear being loosing him forever. He answered: „You´re the only one who´ll never loose me. You´ll be the one I love forever." It was unexpectedly cheesy for Barney, but she didn´t care- it was the most beautiful thing she ever heard. But then she lost him, pushed him away and now she isn´t the one he´ll love forever anymore. He has his daughter now, he maybe even has a new woman on his side now.

Robin arrives at the storage, opening it for the first time since about 20 years. But the open door reveals so much more stuff than years ago. Barney seemed to have put every stuff from their life together here. Then she saw it: a small shelf where the locket is- along with Barney´s wedding band. She takes it in her hands, sinks on the floor and cries. She cries about Barney, about their friendship, about their marriage, about all the other ones, she never gets to see those days, about her having to date Ted, if she doesn´t want to die as a lonely woman who´ll get eaten by her dogs.

She cries about everything she has lost.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys! Thank you so muchfor your Reviews. As some of you asked me: don´t worry, I know it doesn´t look like it at the moment, but my fic totally ends up with Barney and Robin together- you can be sure of that. I also try not to be too mean to Ted. Idk how to feel about this chapter, it´s not that good, but I thought I upload it anyways, so you don´t have to wait any longer. Next chapter will focus on a Swarkles-talk, so stay tuned (it will be intense and also kind of heartbreaking I think, but I hope you´ll stick with me). So have fun with this chapter, read and review please! Love you guys, thanks for your support!**

She doesn´t even know how long she has been crying at this point. She sat in the storage in the middle of the night mourning about how her life went the last few years. She´s been so happy once. Now everything that´s left from her happy life, especially her happy married life is stored in boxes. Boxes full of memories.

She finally stands up, wipes away the tears and opens a box. Her body experienced another shiver of tears when she sees the content – a box full of wedding photos. They seemed so happy back then, so content. Robin takes her favourite one out of it: It´s a pic of both of them, she sitting on his lap with her wedding dress. He whispered something in her ear and she laughed. His words have been: "Now, we are Mr and Mrs Possimpible."

She goes through some more photos and suddenly, she has kind of a flashback: Her, sitting in the storage, looking at pics of her and Barney madly in love- how ironic, she thinks.

When she starts opening some other boxes, Robin realizes Barney must have got rid of ALL of her stuff. Everything was in the storage: her Canada mugs, their wedding gown, the tie she bought him for his birthday (along with every other birthday present she ever bought him as she realizes), all of the photos, even some bed sheets were in there. She also finds a cologne- no, not any cologne: the one which Robin loved so much on him, some old T-shirts… so basically everything she forgot at their appartement or which are emotionally connected with her. It was pretty clear, Barney doesn´t want to be reminded of her. A few more tears run down her cheeks: "Why? Just why? We met each other some times after our divorce… he acted as always. We split on friendly terms. Why did he get rid of everything?"

Robin is really stunned and as the tears don´t stop falling, she decides to call it a night and get out of this storage full of feelings. She knows why she always had it in her mind to get back together with Ted and also told Lily Ted was the one she should´ve probably ended up with: It would never hurt that much. It wouldn´t rip her heart out. Ted loves her and would never hurt her- he couldn´t, even if he wanted to, because her feelings for him have never been that strong. She always loved and appreciated Ted as a friend, but after their breakup, he was always that back-up guy for her. The guy who will always wait for her, who will always love her, no matter what. Who would always be happy to do everything for her. He has been the nice possibility in the back of her head- the possibility of someone who gets old with her, when she will never find her true love. And then, she found her true love- but it was someone unreliable… Barney always had to much power over her. He knew her so well, knew what she was thinking, how she intends to handle situations. She first realized that they were on of a kind when she was his Bro that one night… but it really left her speechless when she wanted to move in with Ted and realized Barney knows her much better than Ted. Ted didn´t know she was smoking at that point, he didn´t know she was a gun nut… Barney did. And it scared her a lot. They were so similar in their behavior, in their thoughts and everything else- what was also the reason why Robin doubted she could trust him. He was too much like her. She hated feelings and she hated the thought of settling down- exactly what Barney hated. They were both lone wolves, but they learned how to work together. However, as time went on and she travelled the world, she feared Barney would dump her- so before he could hurt her, she decided to give him an out. A subtle way of finding out how he really feels- and he didn´t want her anymore, he took the out. Robin thought she can get over this and she did kind of a good job forgetting Barney when she traveled the world, but there always have been days where she thought her world will go down- until to this day. The worst of all has been the day- or better said, the night after Barney went away.

*Flashback*

She came home pretty wasted. Though the work kept her busy all day, the blonde, lovely guy aka her husband, well no, ex-husband didn´t get out of her mind. It was horrible. The only way to get out of -this emotional rollercoaster was getting drunk- and she did a good job on that. But soon, she felt pretty sick and the tears came out again. Most of the time, she forgot bad things after drinking alcohol, but to her bad, not this time. It got even worse. When a guy at the bar hit on her, she started crying like a baby. The confused guy disappeared as fast as he could and she stumbled to her hotel room. As soon as she closed the door behind her back, she fell onto the bed and cried. The tears didn´t stop and soon, her pillow was pretty wet. She scooted over to the other pillow. Unfortunately, that was the worst idea that night- it had been Barney´s and it still smelt like him. She smelt his cologne, his shampoo with which he washed his stupid wonderful hair and his dumb marvelous perfect blue eyes. Robin jumped out of the bed, pulled Barney´s bedding out of the bed and threw it through the room. She picked it up again, started to unzip the duvet cover and threw it out on the balcony. The next thing, she threw around were his shampoos in the bathroom. He didn´t take them with him, so his suitcase wouldn´t have too much weight. Robin probably woke up the whole hotel, but she didn´t even care. When she found some paper, she ripped it. She continued running around destroying things which reminded her of Barney. When she heard a knock on the door, this was the first thought that popped into her mind: "Maybe he is back. He hasn´t given up on us." Tears of joy were forming in her eyes when she opened the door, but in front of her wasn´t Barney, but an employee of the hotel. He asked her to be quiet because some people had already complained. She promised to be more quiet and her anger disappeared. All that was left was a bigger heartbreak than before: he really went home, he left her, he took the out. She cried the whole night.

*End of Fashback*

She doesn´t like remembering this scene. She was so heartbroken, but also pretty pitiful. That wasn´t her. She is strong, she doesn´t need anybody- the problem is, she doesn't want to end up alone either. Her struggle before, where she realized she had to fight for Barney was gone. HE left HER. And he never tried to win her back. He signed the divorce papers without even talking to her about it for a second time. She starts getting really angry and decides what she thinks is best for her: "I will start a relationship with Ted, getting old with him, so I don´t have to die alone. I´ll make him very happy. But first I´ve one thing to do: Talk to Barney. He took the out, he left me, hit on girls in front of my eyes and put all my things or the stuff that probably reminded him of me away. He got closure on me- I deserve that too."

Robin arrives at home and goes to sleep. The next day, she goes to work (where she barely can keep her eyes open because of the long night) and heads to her appartement immediately after work. She calls back Ted who left her about 200 messages, eats something and changes clothes. Then she searches for Barney´s new address on the internet and hails a cab to his place, ready for her closure.

She hasn´t even the slightest clue, how far away her closure is.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Me again! I'm sorry, but I swear next chapter will clear up some things! I wanted to post it in this chapter, but then the "introduction" to their talk was far too long. Not that much happening, hope you like it anyways. Thanks for reading and for reviewing! 3 enjoy**

She stands in front of his house. Her heart beats fastly and she hates herself for that? Why does he still have such an enormous effect on her? Robin takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. A girl at about the age of 10 with long blonde hair and blue eyes stand in front of her. She gasps- she totally forgot about Ellie.

„Hello, can I help you?"

„Hey, I´m Robin. Your aunt Robin actually. I wanted to visit you and your dad, how are you Ellie?"

„I think you´re not looking for me, I´m sorry. I´m not Ellie, but her friend. She packs some stuff to come with me, we´ll have a pyjama party."

„Oh, how nice, you´ll sure have a good time. …..Ähm could you get me Barney, ähm Mr. Stinson?"

„Mr. Stinson isn´t there yet, but he should come every minute."

„Oh, okay, maybe I´ll come later and…"

„No, wait I get Ellie."

„No, seriously…that´s not necess…."- but the girl doesn´t even wait for her to finish the sentence. She runs back into the appartement and calls Ellies name.

As Robin already thinks it can´t get any worse, a young girl appears… She has dark-brown hair, blue eyes and the sweetest face. Robin´s heart is racing now. Why does she have to have brown hair? Damn, she looks like a little version of the girl she imagined back when she discovered she´s infertile. Ellie looks like she could be Barney´s and her daughter. „How awesome, this makes things far more easy.", Robin thought. Not enough that Barney has a kid, he also has a gorgeous kid, but the worst: he has that kid with another woman, not with her. With a bimbo, a dumb one-night stand. Her dear Barney who told her he doesn´t need kids as long as he has her. Now she´s been replaced. She´s not his number one anymore, she hasn´t been for a long time now. This girl has his heart now.

„Is everything okay? Can I help you?", Ellie asks her and Robin comes back to reality.

„Oh hey, Ellie. I´m aunt Robin… you don´t remember me, do you?"

„No, not really. I´m sorry."

„It´s okay. Me and your dad were…äh…we were good friends, but it´s a long time ago. I didn´t expect you to remember me."

„Glad you´re not mad, but… why are you crying?"

Damn it, she didn´t realize that she has tears in her eyes. Ellie looks at her questioningly with her big blue eyes.

„Sorry, I´m not crying. Not really. It´s just..it´s been such a long time. I missed your dad and haven´t seen you in such a long time. That just got me thinking."

„I see. Do you want to come in?"

„Thanks, Ellie. I just wanted to talk to your dad. I´ll come back later."

„But he´ll be here any minute. And I´m not leaving for about another half an hour, so please come in."

„Thank you, you´re a really sweet girl, Ellie.", she says and goes into the appartement.

Ellie leads her into the living room, where she says Robin to sit on the couch.

„Just wait a second, okay? I have to go back to Michelle and to my room to pack my things. It won´t take long. Don´t go away, yeah?"

„Okay thanks."

So she sits there all alone, all uncomfortable in Barney´s new appartement. But it´s not only his new appartement… she landed in his new life. The whole flat looks so… domestic. Not at all like Barney. The walls are white, but that´s the only uncoloured thing in the living room. She sits on a big fat and cosy red couch, nice light-brown shelves everywhere. And, what wonders her the most, little stuff is lying around everywhere. Little boxes, little figures, lots of books. It´s as if Barney now has an appartement which ist he exact opposite of the one he had before. She has a lump in her throat again and a bitter feeling spreads in her whole body.

Suddenly, Robin heard the door. „Hey, girls, I´m home. I brought some pizza." It was Barney. Her heart races and her hands start to sweat. Now, the moment is here. Barney comes into the room, looking at her as if she is a ghost. „Robin?", he questions. „Yes, it´s me. Come on, I look a little bit different, but don´t act like you don´t recognize me properly."

„What are you doing here?", Barney frowns.

„Hello to you to, Mr. Sensitive…."

„You´re sitting in my appartement without any warning. What do you suppose me to do?"

„I´m sorry. I just wanted to see you and most of all, talk to you. It´s been a long time."

„And honestly, I thought I´ll never see you again."

„You thought what? Don´t you want to see me."

„It´s not about what I want Robin, it´s about what I thought. And I thought I don´t have to see you again."

„You don´t HAVE to see me again? I´m sorry I´m causing you so much trouble.", she replies angrily.

„I´m sorry, okay. What do you want? You said you wanted to talk to me, so here I am, what´s wrong? Anyone dead?", Barney asks her coldly.

„Okay, I don´t know, but what exactly happened? As far as I remember, everything was okay the last time we saw each other. We said our goodbyes in a friendly way. I come to visit you years later and instead of offering me something to drink, or asking what I have done all the years or at least asking me how I am, you don´t look me in the eyes and act all mad. What have I done?"

He stares at her coldly. As he opens his mouth for an answer, suddenly Ellie comes in. „Hey, dad. Great, you already found Aunt Robin. She wanted to surprise you. Melissa and I are ready, I have packed all my stuff, so I´m ready for her mum to pick us up. I already phoned her. She´ll be here in about 20 minutes. Enough time to eat some pizza." Ellie along with her friend Melissa sits down on the couch next to Robin and both oft hem pick a big slice of pizza. They chatted with Robin about how school is like and what are their hobbies. Barney sits near them on a comfy chair and doesn´t say anything all of the time. When Robin starts talking about her job and tells that she travelled all around the world to report the news, Ellie suddenly blurts out: „That´s why your face seemed so familiar! You´re this newscaster I saw you sometimes on TV! I really liked your reports, I would´ve watched them everyday, if dad hadn´t been so bored all the time. He always complained about how boring all kinds of news are. He wanted to watch Spongebob instead. I swear, sometimes, he´s far more childish than I am" Robin looked at him, tears forming in her eyes again… She thinks she might knew another reason why he never watched the news. As this thoughts come to her mind, anger comes along with it. He packed everything away in a storage and didn´t even watch her reporting the news. She always thought he was different. That he isn´t going to be the grumpy ex-husband.

All of a sudden, they hear the doorbell ringing. It was the mom of that other girl- Robin has already forgotten the name of this child, cause her anger and sadness is all what is in her head now. The girls leave for their pyjama party and Barney and Robin are alone again.

Neither of them says anything at first, they are just looking on their shoes. Finally, Barney speaks: „So, I know now how are you doing and what you have done over the years, as you told Ellie everything. I´m fine too. As we got over the nice little small talk now, I´ll just say this to you: You have my blessing."

„I´m sorry what? I have your blessing? What the hell do you mean Barney?"

„You can be with Ted. Date him. Marry him. Make him happy- make yourself happy. I don´t care. It´s your life, we divorced about 14 years ago. We haven´t seen each other for years, I don´t even speak to Ted anymore, so do what you want and leave me alone." He shouts at her angrily.

Robin eyes him astonished and pretty shocked…


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello, my lovely Readers! My chapters always get longer than I intend to, so I´m sorry I´m not as far with that story as it should be. I hope you´re not bored already. So, enjoy the new chapter and please leave some Reviews!**

Robin refuses to go. She doesn´t understand anything. Why does he know about her and Ted? She was supposed to talk to him to get HER feelings straight not Barney´s. But now he is standing there screaming at her, she should leave.

„Barney, wait. Wha… Could you explain me why you tell me to get to Ted?"

„Stop acting like you don´t know what I´m talking about. Ted told me."

„Ted? Ted told you? You just said you don´t talk to him anymore…"

„I don´t talk to him usually, but he phoned me yesterday and told me about you two."

„Okay, wait. I wasn´t in New York for years. Now please, tell me why you and Ted don´t talk anymore and why he phoned you to tell you about us."

„You should ask him. Robin, please. I can´t do this anymore. I want to forget everything. I want to move on. Please go."

„No, I won´t ask Ted, because I asked you and I want to know from you what happened.", Robin says desperately.

Barney lets out a big sigh, lets himself fall on the couch and starts to explain: It was about 1 and a half years after Tracy´s death…

*Flashback*

Barney rings on Ted´s doorbell. After a few seconds, Ted opens.

„What do you want, Barney? I didn´t invite you over."

„I want you to go out again. With me. Tonight."

„No."

„Oh come on! You don´t even have to suit up! You should shave though…."

„Haha, very funny. No. You know, I don´t want to meet new women."

„I didn´t even mean you should go out with me to pick up women or be my wingman. You are just so down since Tracy´s death. I know you loved her, but you barely leave your house anymore. It´s almost 1 and a half years ago! You have to go on. If you don´t want to do it for yourself- do it for Penny and Luke. They want a happy father too."

„I don´t want to Barney!", he almost screams

„Okay, okay. You don´t have to. Can I come in? We can talk."

„If you want. Come in. But no matter, what you do, you won´t convince me to go out."

They went into the living room.

„Are Penny and Luke there?", Barney asked.

„Yes, they are in their rooms. We had dinner before, but they immediately went into their rooms afterwards."

„Oh, I see."

An awkward silence spread in the room.

Barney finally started talking again: „Ted, look. I´m worried about you. You don´t go out anymore. And I don´t mean meeting new women with that. I barely see you anymore. Neither do Marshall and Lily. We can go for dinner sometimes. Or to the movies. Just don´t hide in your house all the time. Life goes on."

„Barney, listen. I appreciate your concern, but I´m fine. Don´t push me, okay?"

„I try. But it´s such a long time now. As your bro I have the duty to make your life as awesome as possible."

„No, you don´t have to. Barney, I lost the mother of my kids, my soulmate. I LOST THE FREAKING LOVE OF MY LIFE AFTER LOOKING FOR HER FOREVER! IT´S NOT FAIR."

„Wow, Ted, calm down. I´m sorry… It´s just- if someone understands you, it´s me."

Ted snorted, „You. YOU? Why should you of all people understand me? You have to explain that, buddy."

„I lost my soulmate and the love of my life too.", Barney says quietly in a sad tone.

„You don´t speak of Robin, don´t you?"

„Of course, I mean Robin. What do you think?"

„You compare me loosing my wife to you and Robin divorcing? Are you kidding me? Do you even understand the concept of love?"

„I know, Robin didn´t die and as she´s still somewhere traveling around the world, it´s not that tragic, but I lost her. She lost interest in me, she ignored me. If you look at it my way, we both have lost our wifes involuntarily."

Ted broke out into hysterical laughter, „Are you fucking kidding me, Barney? You loosing Robin involuntarily. YOU, the lying, childish husband who took the out because of wifi, who didn´t fight for his wife- YOU of all people tell me we have both lost the love of our lives. You don´t even know what love means!"

„I don´t know what love means? I loved Robin to death, I still love her, I would take her back any minute if she…"

„YOU DON´T LOVE HER! You´re a womanizing idiot. I saw Robin first, not you! She would´ve been mine if it wasn´t for you. She fell for your schemes, for your plays. I still can´t believe it to be honest… A strong, independent and clever woman as Robin falling for a guy like Barney Stinson. That´s a joke. You whole love was a fucking joke. She fell for you, don´t ask me why, and you took advantage of it!"

„I DID WHAT? I NEVER EVER TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER! The first night we slept together, SHE made the first move. SHE kissed and grabbed me. SHE asked me to come to her flat in the first place!"

„Oh yeah, of course, she did. You know what, Barney? You´re so pitiful. A man who tells lies his whole life until even he himself believes it…."

„This is no LIE! She made the first move. I loved her!"

„Stop, Barney! If you really loved her, you would be with her!"

„No, I wouldn´t be with her. Because I´m not you, Ted. I respect her."

„What the hell do you mean with that?"

„I mean that you almost forced her to be with you. She told you back when you met, she doesn´t like commitment, she doesn´t want to have a relationship etc. But you kept pushing her. You almost harrassed her. You got lucky, she finally fell for you. Me, Lily and Marshall seriously considered to send you to therapy, because you were kind of obsessed with her!"

„Oh yeah, of course. I harrassed her- are you kidding me. If someone harrassed her, it has been YOU!"

„You never let go of her, Ted! You might think it´s romantic to fight for someone you think is the one, but to be honest, it´s only creepy."

„I can´t believe you, Barney! You…"

„I can´t believe YOU, Ted! After all these years you still say I didn´t deserve Robin anyways and that you saw her first and blabla. And now you´re even saying I forced her to love me, when you have been the only one who did that. You ran after her until she finally dated you – I didn´t make an actual move on her. I wanted to sleep with her once, but when she told me no, I respected that and played battleship with her. When we actually slept together, SHE made a move ON ME!"

„I don´t want to talk with you about that anymore! You don´t know what a romantic gesture is, you don´t know what love is. You and Robin married because of the sex. When she wanted to run away with me on your wedding, I had to convince her that she loved you and you loved her. Deep down, she knew it back then, that it was never love. It was a challenge, it was about sex. It has never been about you, Barney, NEVER."

Barney swallowed hard. Robin wanted to run away with Ted on their wedding day? She had doubts so bad, she considered leaving him at the altar? She once again had doubts maybe Ted would be the better choice after all? Barney stood up and without saying a word he left. This has been the last time he talked to him in years- until yesterday, when he phoned him..

„Go for Barney."

„Hey, Barney, it´s me Ted."

„What do you want? Is Marshall dead?"

„What noooo. Why should Marshall be dead?"

„Because you called me. We didn´t do that talking thing anymore, remember?"

„Yeah, I remember. I also remember why you didn´t talk to me anymore. Because of Robin, because I told you it has never been true love between the two of you."

„Has that call any point, Ted?"

„I was right."

„Right with what?"

„Robin always knew deep down that I have been the better choice. We are getting back together. I took the blue french horn again and rushed to her new appartement yesterday, she is living in New York again, by the way. We are together."

„Great for you, bye." – He ended the call before Ted could say another word.

*End of Flashback*

Barney ended his story.

„Are you happy now, Robin? There you have your great story. Go back to the love of your life now."

„I´m not here to ask you for your blessing."

„What else do you want?"

„I want to get closure on the two of us. I can´t be happy with Ted as long as I know there is this blonde friend of him whom I was married to and whom I loved once."

„How should I give you closure, Robin? When you believe Ted- and I actually do believe him at this point as you are back with him now- you never really loved me. Ted has always been the right one for you. Can´t give you anymore closure than that. There was no love between us."

„This isn´t true, Barney."

„Ted told me that years ago. You wanted to run away with him… so please leave me alone now."

„It was wrong of Ted he did told you that. I didn´t want to run away with him actually. I had really bad jitters and doubts, this is true. I told Ted I have to run away and he should come with me, but he refused and I ran away alone. But then I met Tracy and she calmed me down, then I saw you, you made this sweet vow and I forgot all my doubts. It wasn´t about running away with Ted, it was about my commitment problems. Which you should understand best!"

„Still, you want to be with Ted again."

„I don´t want to be alone and Ted loves me, he is a nice guy and will do everything to make me happy."

„You still think he is the ultimate nice guy after what I told you? About what he said about our marriage?"

„I´m sure he didn´t mean it that way! He was still sad about Tracy and you, the biggest womanizer on that planet told him he feels the same way…"

Barney shook his head and interrupted her, „You´re unbelievable. After all these years, after our relationship, after our marriage, you still defend Ted? Why is he always the nice guy who can never do anything wrong? And why am I always the jerk?"

„I never said you´re a jerk, Barney. I know you have a soft side…"

„But still Ted is the hero in this! He can do nothing wrong. He can sleep with as many women as he pleases as long as he is talking shit about finding the one. This seems to justify everything. He is the romantic guy, he is every women´s dream. Everyone will choose him over the cold-hearted womanizer!"

…and the argument was on.


	7. Chapter 7

**_AN: Hello guys! first of all: You're the best! Thank you so so so much for your nice reviews- they keep me writing and inspire me! Please keep them coming... And speaking of that we come to the second point: This chapter took me a lot of time (it's also the longest one until now), but I think there are far too much personal impressions of the whole story in there. I so hope Barney is not too much out of character, but I had to get all of this stuff out of my system. Please tell me what you think! Any critism (whether good or bad),proposing improvements, rants about the finale, anything is welcome. I read every single Review and try to improve my writing, Thank you so much! Xoxo_**

"You know this isn´t true, Barney! I chose you over Ted! You were just fed up with me!", Robin says, her voice beginning to shake.

„Oh come on, Robin! Do you really believe this yourself or what? You only see the good things on Ted and the bad things on me. I can´t even blame you for that. Everybody does!"

„What do you mean?"

„Think about it, Robin"

„Think about what? Yes, you did bad things over the years, but me, Ted, Lily and Marshall- we always loved you for that. and…" Robin just wanted to start telling Barney why he is such a lovely and entertaining guy, as Barney´s hysterical laughter cut through it.

„You guys LOVED me? I should believe you that? You guys never loved me, you didn´t even accepted me, the only thing you did was to bear me. I´ve always been a burden to all of you. But you know what- it isn´t important anymore, there has never been anyone who loved me for me or at least try to understand why I´m the way I am.", Barney gulps hard and turns his face away from his ex-wife.

Robin realized the pain in his voice- why did he say things like that? „I always loved you for being you, Barney, I always did. It´s not fair to blame me for not loving you enough… that´s ridiculous!"

„Is it, Robin? Is it? Just think about it.", he faced her again, „through all these years I did anything I could to make you happy. Even before we dated! But you, especially you, the only person I ever really loved, pushed me away and shattered my heart. Do you know how…"

„I KNOW, Barney! I know you did many sweet things for me and I always appreciated them!"

„Would you please hear me out? Could you just once don´t interrupt me and let me explain you my story?"

„Your story? This isn´t going to be another fake history lesson, isn´t it?", Robin chuckles, unfortunately, Barney doesn´t find it that funny

„You know what, Robin? I told you before, I can´t do this anymore. I want to forget. So if you just came to make jokes of me and rub into my face that you want to be with Ted again, then you fulfilled your challenge. Then please go now."

„Come on, Barney. What is wrong with you? Since when do you take everything so seriously? I was just joking…"

„Oh yeah of course you think it´s weird I´m serious, I´m just a dumb womanizer who hasn´t any feelings. I can´t change. I will be always damned to that stupid role of a womanizer, because everybody refuses to see something else in me."

Robin doesn´t say anything, she looks at him and she feels a little sting in her heart, when she sees how unhappy and desperate Barney´s words are. As soon as she wants to open her mouth to say something comforting, Barney seems to have an emotional breakdown- all the words technically spilled out of his mouth:

„I always tried to fulfill everyone´s wishes, to make everyone happy and proud of me. But most of all, I wanted someone to love me. My mom was awesome, but she never really cared for me when I was a child. She was far more occupied with tramping through the states, being a flower girl and bang as many men as possible. And my dad… well you know about that. My dad didn´t even bear me for some years. It was more important to live his own life, to abandon his son. He could at least visit me, but no. He left me- as everybody else did. Don´t you think that says a lot? That even the two people in the world who created me and who were genetically preprogrammed to love me, even them had better and most important things to deal with. James always tried to be a good brother- and he is, but he has his family. He has a life- he has people who love him. Tom even forgave him that he slept with other men! And me? I can´t even hold my wife and make her love me when I travel with her around the world and support her in every way possible."

Robin doesn´t even recognizes, that a tear falls down on her cheek as he says these words. She knows all of that, she knows he was hurt by that. But everything seems to be different. He never told it that way- with that tone in his voice. She makes a move, wants to stand up and comfort him, but he is going around in the living room like a nervous lion in his cage and continues:

„As I grow older, I was a nerd. I´ve always loved magic and when I met Shannon and she became my first girlfriend I thought I finally found someone who loved me. But, as always I was wrong. She cheated, as you sure remember. That was my turning point. I finally accepted that no one will ever love me. There will always be someone better than me, Someone, who knows how to make a woman stay. So, I changed- I got awesome which means I blocked all feelings. I used the girls the same way, I´ve been used by Shannon. You surely think it´s weird, but in a way I always thought I show all these girls a good lesson: trust nobody, don´t share feelings, cause everybody who means something to you will leave you. Of course, there were you guys, my friends, but if we´re all honest with each other, we know you wanted to get rid of me all of the time."

Robin gulped and wanted to interrupt him and tell him what a stupid thought that was, but he didn´t let her speak,

„Don´t even try to talk this out of me. I´ve always been a burden to Ted. Not once in my life he told me that I´m his best friend. I tried to ignore it, act as if I´m Ted´s best friend, but everybody knew that´s not true. Everybody eyed me in a pitiful way, most likely thinking, what a wrecked creature I must be. Now he tells his kids, he doesn´t even know why he hung out with me that often- he is ashamed of our friendship. And Lily and Marshall- well that´s a marvellous story too! I did everything possible to bring them back together- to be honest, it was kind of selfish too, because they were the one and only couple who portrayed real love me. They supported each other, put each other first and loved each other unconditionally. I didn´t want to watch this getting destroyed, so I kept all girls from Marshall and flew to San Francisco to get Lily back. Now, somebody may think, they appreciate me for that or anything, but no. As always, I continued being that insensitive jerk in their eyes. Whether Marshall telling Ted, they don´t want another Barney on St. Patrick´s Day or Lily, who I even let move in with me, would choose immediately you after our divorce. It doesn´t count that I´m a friend of her too, she says without even thinking about it, she would choose you instead of me. To be honest, I wasn´t even surprised anymore. But you know what makes me real sick? The fact that Ted didn´t do anything! He let Marshall cry in his arms, but that was it. He didn´t even try to get them back together. He told Marshall to forget her and called Lily a Grinch… nice, isn´t he. And as soon as Lily was back and discovered this nice nick-name it was all about him again. Poor Teddy-boy was hurt because Lily didn´t phone him- that´s his reasoning. Forget Marshall, Ted´s important again. So Lily was mad at him, but not for long- he listened to her once back in the day when she talked about some oven and everything is okay again. He doesn´t even have to apologize, because Lily did. Ted, as always is the romantic hero who can´t do any harm."

He does have a point, Robin thinks. She listens to Barney carefully and is really touched by his words. All these years, they didn´t realize that Barney is truly offended by their actions. More tears are falling now. She feels so sorry for him and it hurts her badly, but what takes her breath away and breaks her heart into pieces are the following words:

„Years went by and though I was hurt sometimes, all in all I was happy. I already built my own world, being able to ignore all of this shit most of the time. But then it happened. My big downfall, my titanic, my big mistake that broke my world: You."

Barney takes a deep breath- he is stuttering like a fool now. He damns himself because his tears are a little waterfall by now. But then, he looks at Robin- a second waterfall looking at him.

„I slept with you once and fell in love with you- hopelessly and irretrievably. First, I ran away from my feelings, then I did everything to spend some time with you- I fell in love with you more and more everyday. Then, our secret summer happened and to be honest, these were the happiest months of my life. We didn´t define things and some may think because we didn´t take it seriously or anything, but the truth is, we´ve just been ourselves. We both knew, we didn´t date other people, but we didn´t stick on that boyfriend/girlfriend- thing. So both of us commitment-phobics felt good with it. However, the others find out and they watched us all the time. It has been too much pressure and we broke up. Most of the time, I could ignore the heart-wrecking feeling that crawled up in me everytime I saw you, but then I realized how much you suffered because of our broken relationship. My only challenge then, was to make you happy. I thought you couldn´t be happy with me, so I did it without you noticing. I don´t know if you remember our gang´s crazy race, but anyway, I knew you need a win, so I tackled Ted, just to make you smile. We grew closer and closer as friends and I couldn´t have asked for a better support in the whole Arcadian thing. You defended me against the others, you were on my side. I know, I never showed it, but you can´t even imagine how much that meant to me, Robin. Finally, there was somebody who believed in me, who supported me. That was awesome."

Robin snorted and lets out a deep sigh afterwards, at least she had done anything right.

„I should´ve told you that long before, so… I realized you were pining for me when I was with Nora. But I thought it´s better for all of us and would save us the trouble. Oh yeah, I do remember: „With you the trouble doesn´t seem so troubling"- boy, I didn´t know that it´s actually you who would cause me the most painful trouble of my life. Anyway, I thought we were done, but that one night when Marshall slapped me so bad you proposed to share a taxi with me and take me home. We were sitting in that taxi and don´t ever try to tell me anything else, YOU started the conversation about our almost kiss. You heated the situation and we landed in bed. I guess, I don´t have to retell the whole story. You know it ended with no girlfriend and an enourmous heartbreak for me. You chose Kevin and I have to say, I still remember that fucking pain. But I couldn´t stay away from you. I still wanted to be friends with you, afraid of loosing you, cause after all, you were the one who understood me best, even though you didn´t want me. And here comes the next thing that I will never understand: I though it´s good that a couple can stay friends after a break-up. Still, Ted was the poor one when you rejected him. You told him you don´t love him and Ted ignored you for some time after that. But again, he is the saint. Me, having actually slept with you, in contrary to Ted, continued trying to make the best out of our complicated situation. It was awkward, but it worked most of the time. Until I couldn´t shake the feeling there is still something between us. You were so sad when you thought I destroyed every evidence of us being a couple so I could be with Quinn. And the last chapter of our story started…

The storage. She just has to ask him, even though it means she has to interrupt him. „Why are all the things, even the one that are only slightly connected with me, locked away in the storage?"

„You´ll see.", is everything he replies to her question.

„I wrote the play,we got engaged, we were happy. Our time as fiances was great and our wedding was legen…, you know it was a cool weekend. As our honeymoon and our years as a married couple have been. Then you pushed me away, we divorced. I´m aware that you know all of that stuff, but what you don´t seem to know is that I truly loved you. Every one of my words I said to you have been true. When I let go by a day, without talking to you, that day´s just no good. And wow, there have been a lot lately. I can´t stop loving you anymore than I can stop breathing. All of this was no lie and still isn´t- that´s why I put all the things away. I couldn´t throw them away, but I can´t keep them anywhere where I always see them either. I`m sorry, but the only way is to not see you, to get you out of my mind. I think I did a great job on that the last few years and I don´t want everything to get destroyed now."

Robin gasps… Does he really never wants to see her again? Of course, she didn´t see him much, but she always felt that she could visit him if she wants to.

„You have been my life, Robin. My whole world revolved around you… Sadly, you preferred to revolve the world without me. I don´t want to live in the past anymore. I try to remember all the good times, for example the one time in Florence… you know what I mean", he winked.

A smile makes it´s way through Robin´s tears and Barney realizes it, „See, Robin. That´s exactly what I meant. I would have done everything to get you out of your sadness and all I wanted was an honest smile from you. That´s why I ran to basically every news-cast, every tv-programme, just so you can stay in the USA back when you almost got deported. Gosh, I was so crazy for you, I would´ve married you right away back then, just so you can stay in the country. While Ted did nothing, by the way. I throw that rehearsal dinner in canadian style for you, hell I even accepted that there are awesome things coming from Canada. I wrote that whole play for you, just to win you back, I burnt the Playbook, I was willing to give up my appartement. I bought you puppies! I bought them for you, cause you had been so sad, back when Ted wanted you to give away your dogs. Another example, where I have been there for you, not Ted. He was acting selfish again, just thinking about him and his feelings. I know, it´s a bad comparison though, but what if you had had kids back then? They would have been from your ex-boyfriends too! As said, I know you can´t compare children with dogs, but still…"

Barney takes a deep breath now,

„So, all I want to say with that story is that you, the person who meant the world to me, who I thought is my soulmate and understands me no matter what, who will be the Lily to my Marshall, who I thought got the soft, messed up and disappointed guy underneath that womanizing, rough skin, you of all people broke my heart. You have been the first one I trusted after a long time- ironically, you´ve also been the last one I ever trusted. I thought with you I don´t have to wait for it anymore… as it turned out, I ´ll have to wait forever. Nobody will ever be proud of me, like me as a whole or even love me. I know, Ellie does and she´s my everything now. She showed me that there´s still something what´s worth living for. That little bundle of joy who trusted me and loved me unconditionally. I know, she´ll find love sometime in the future and her old dad will be not that important anymore. However, what should I say anymore, I´m used to be the second choice now."

He finally ends his story and exhausted of spilling out all his feelings he has abandoned for all these years, he sits down on the couch.

„I´m sorry", Robin whispered, her voice cracking.

„It´s okay, forget it. Should I ever meet someone again with whom I fall in love, I will steal them a green trumpet or a purple violin. As it seems, you can do everything for the woman you love, but nothing will ever compare to a douche stealing you a coloured instrument. I learned my lesson."


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I´m soooo sorry. I always told myself I will never be one of those guys who lets her Readers wait. Unfortunately, I had little time these past days (yes, I know, lame excuse). I try to update at least once a week. Sorry, if you waited for it (and if you did: thank you so much for reading my Story and waiting for a new chapter, I love you guys). I also had a Little struggle how to continue with this Story. I hope it´s not the wrong way. Enjoy! (and Review, please :) )**

Robin knows it´s surely not the best decision concerning the circumstances, but she can´t hold herself. She shifts to Barney and gives him a big hug. She has never been that touchy feeling person, but Barney needs that right now. He needs it the same way as she did, back when she told him, she can´t have kids. Sure, all of the others were sweet and nice as well, but Barney´s gesture has been the most comforting effect. A wordless hug, a sign of compassion without the force to talk that out. He never defined her over whether she was the woman who loves kids or not, whether she wants a family or not whether she wants to settle down or not. He loved her for the person she has always been- the independent, cigar-smoking, scotch-drinking gun nut who was always up for some dirty jokes or some laser tag.

Barney doesn´t break the hug, but he doesn´t hug her back either, so Robin is sitting next to Barney having her hands draped around him. Just as it starts to become pretty awkward, Robin has to let go of him because something startled her. It´s a sweet little bundle of fur suddenly running into the living room.

„Ahhhh, oh my god, what is this?", Robin asks.

„Oh come on, Robin, I know you travelled around the world, but don´t tell me you forgot how dogs are looking. Besides that, I´m sure they have dogs in other countries too!", Barney softly chuckles through his tears.

„Awwwww look how sweet it is! Is it yours?"

„Yeah, kind of. It´s Ellie´s to be exact. We were making a trip and landed on some weird farm one day. Ellie fell in love with that little guy immediately and so we took him with us."

„He is so sweet, a little labrador, right? How old is he…or she?"

„It´s a boy. His name is Brody."

Robin smiles, „Of course, first Brover, now Brody, makes sense…"

„And he is only 8 months. I guess Ellie has accidentily locked him in her room. It always takes him a little while to jump on her board and then on the door-knob to open the door"

Robin laughs again, „Wow, he can do that? So funny. One of my dogs is about as four times as big as Brody and he has problems with going down the stairs or something."

"You have dogs again?"

"Yes, I do. Five of them to be exact."

"Cool, hope your aunt is still alive and still has her farm. She will soon have some new friends to welcome there.", Barney says sarcastically.

"What do you mean, Barney?" She knows exactly what he means. When she gets back together with Ted, he may insist on giving the dogs away again.

"Forget it. I´m sorry. Some sadistic part of me always tries to hurt some people, but it never works anyway. For that, people have to care about me- as nobody doesn´t, I can make jokes and sarcastic comments as much as I want."

Robin starts to get angry now. What is wrong with him? One second, she can joke around with him and feels some vibes from the old Barney- her Barney- and in the next second he mourns about the lack of love from everybody. And this is bullshit.

"So you really think, you never hurt me, Barney?", Robin asks him in a shaky voice.

"Robin, look, I´m sorry, forget it. I shouldn´t have said that."

But Robin doesn´t seem to have listened to him, "YOUR opinion always meant very much to me. Because of you I I realized that Argentina Robin is a complete freak, because of you I applied to jobs where they probably laughed after I went out of the auditioning room, because of you I cried my eyes out so often I can´t even count that number anymore. You hurt me so much after our breakup, you hurt me so bad when you said you threw all evidence of us being a couple away. But none of these things hurt as much as when I get to know you´re going to be a father!" Robin is really mad at herself. She has always been so strong. Now she is at Barney´s appartement and her emotions have gone totally crazy. One second she is angry, then she cries, then she laughs, then she cries again.

"It hurts you that I´m a father? You never wanted kids, so why do you care?"

"WHY I CARE? Are you fucking kidding me, Barney? When Lily phoned me to tell me you knocked up some woman, I was a mess. It felt like a thousand punches in my stomach. I didn´t come to Ellie´s birth because it hurt too much. And when I came back for Ted and Tracy´s wedding you told me you don´t feel that way for me anymore. Another person has replaced me. You have been so happy, you told so much stories about the little girl, you were so proud. I felt like I don´t mean anything to you anymore."

She looks at him and sobs, "Do you have any idea how much pain it caused me to see that the thing you needed for happiness in your life, the thing that changed you was A KID. The only thing I could never give you."

"Robin, do I really have to remind you, that it has been YOU and ONLY YOU who pushed me away in our marriage? That it has been YOU who gave me an out? You weren´t happy anymore! Believe me, I was okay with never having kids. It´s true that I love my daughter more than anything in this world, but when I told you that I don´t need to have kids in my life, that I only need you, I meant it. I really did. I have been so happy in our marriage until you decided that I can´t be happy with you and started to push me away. I had the feeling you don´t want me in your life anymore, so I went out of it. I lost you. If you had listened to me back then, if you hadn´t changed, I swear, Robin, we would still be together. Sure, there would have been ups and downs, but we would have overcame them. After I lost you, it was my luck to get Ellie- otherwise I´d be a weird loner now."

Robin wants to say something, but is interrupted by Brody´s whining.

"Okay, Robin, look. I think this makes no sense anymore. We´re fighting in my living room, throwing things into each other´s faces that happened years ago. Plus, I really should take Brody for a walk. He is still struggling to control his bladder. I think you should go."

"Yes, maybe I should."

Barney, Robin and Brody go out on the street, where Robin tries to hail a cab.

Barney walks away with Brody, when Robin suddenly screams after him, "Barney, wait."

"Yes?"

"Could we meet each other again?"


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hey guys! I hope you don´t hate me for uploading so unregularly lately. The finals are coming and I´m really busy, but I try to update as often as I have some leisure time. Such a short chapter, I know, but as an excuse I will post a new chapter at the Weekend. I hope you enjoy! As always your Reviews are very welcome!**

Barney hesitates and Robin feels ridiculously nervous. She is very released when he finally speaks,

"Robin, are you sure, you wanna do this? We haven´t seen each other for years and we survived it perfectly."

"I have survived it, but not perfectly", Robin mumbles. She spoke so quietly and he didn´t understand her, so she says, "I…Yes. I want this. I missed you. I thought we are friends after all."

"Oh yeah great friends. Friends who don´t see or talk to each other for years and where one friend doesn´t even take the time to visit the other friend´s child."

"Barney, come on. I´m sorry. I want to get to know Ellie. She seems like just a great kid.."

"She´s an awesome kid. The greatest on the planet"

"I´m sure she is, so I want to get to know her. And as I´m back in New York now-"

Barney interrupted, "You need your friends again or what?"

Barney sees how hurt she is and so he agrees, "Okay, you know what. We can see each other once in a while. I´m sure it will be nice. Awkward at first, but nice, I guess."

Robin smiles, they wave each other goodbye and Barney turns around to go for a walk with Brody.

Robin lies in her bed, as always overthinking every little detail. She had some unanswered calls from Ted on her phone, but she lets them unanswered.

She went to Barney to get some closure, but the opposite was the case. It has been so emotional, all the feelings coming up, hearing Barney´s point of view – as she thinks about the past, she realizes, they actually treated Barney wrong. Every single one of them. When she got to know him, she thought, as the others did, that Barney was just a weird and kinda sociopathic womanizer without any feelings. As the years went by she got to know him better and learned he has a soft and sweet side, but Barney was right: no matter what he did, she never appreciated his romantical gestures as much as she had done, if they had come from Ted. Not because she didn´t love Barney as much as Ted- not at all. If she´s honest to herself, she knows it has always been Barney who owns her heart. It was just that something deep in her always thought Barney did it because he only enjoyed surprises and lies and not for her. But he actually did- she knows that now.

Robin is still deep in thoughts when suddenly, her phone rings again. Ted- of course. Robin is kind of annoyed. It´s 1am! She grumbles, but accepts the call.

"Hey, Ted. What´s up?"

"Hey! I phoned you a few times before, but you weren´t there as it seems. I just wanted to ask you if you want to hang out tomorrow. You know and do some stuff… The kids aren´t home."

Oh my god, no. Ted tries to sound sexy, it´s pretty obvious what he really wants. What should she do? It´s not that she doesn´t like Ted, but she realizes it more and more every single second passing: she can´t be with him. She can be friends with him, but she can´t be actually be together with him. Yes, they were a couple once and maybe she loved him a very very very long time ago, but now? Over the years she developed kind of a brotherly feeling for him.

"I guess so…", Robin answers.

"Awesome. Can´t wait for tomorrow! Good night, Robin."

Ted´s enthusiasm scares her. He actually wants to be with her. He actually STILL seems to be MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER. Robin finally realizes she can´t do this to him. That would not be fair- neither to him nor to her... or Barney. She can´t get Ted´s hopes up high and then disappoint him again. After all he´s her friend and she doesn´t want to hurt him more than necessary. It wouldn´t even be selfish- cause it wouldn´t make her happy.

This night, she decides she´d rather be alone for the rest of her life than spend it with someone she doesn´t really love. She would make all people involved unhappy.

Robin curls herself up in her bed and she is falling asleep with a smile on her face, because she knows she´s going to do the right thing. She will talk to Ted before any more damage is caused and she will meet with Barney. With Barney and Ellie. And someday maybe….


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hey! This chapter is about Ted and Robin finally figuring things out, so we can move on to the important things (swarkles ;-) ). So, i hope you enjoy. Please let me know, if I did exaggerate too much and/ or if Ted and Robin were halfway in character. Would mean a lot. Thanks for reading. 3**

To say Robin is just nervous would be a huge understatement. Her hands are sweating badly and her heart races. She arrives at Ted´s house and rings the doorbell. Ted opens almost immediately and waves her in. He seems to be pretty excited, he doesn´t even try to kiss or hug her. Ted gives her a glass of some wine and leads her to the living room. When she walks in, she can´t believe what she sees.

The whole living room is lit by an estimated amount of 300 candles, the floor full of rose petals and blue instruments are lying around everywhere. Robin can´t believe her eyes when she sees a blue piano. A really big FUCKING BLUE PIANO. She doesn´t know what to say or do, he just stands there really shocked. "What the hell is he doing? Oh my god, please someone tell me he is not going to…", she can´t even bring her thought to an end, because Ted is kneeling in front of her with a small box. Her eyes widened and he starts, "Robin Scherbatsky, will you…". But he can´t bring his proposal to an end because Robin interrupts him, "Ted, no, what are you doing. You can´t be serious. No, oh god, no, please stop!"

Ted´s smile fades away. Has he heard right? Has she actually said no? "Are you serious Robin? No? What do you mean with no?"

"What I mean? I mean that you should stop! We haven´t seen each other in years, we aren´t even properly dating and you propose to me? What is wrong with you?"

"Oh, so it´s suddenly a problem, or what?"

"What is suddenly a problem?"

"Engaging with someone you don´t even date. Sure, there is the possibility, I´m wrong, but as far as I remember you and Barney went from ´not even dating´ to ´engaged´ as well!"

"You can´t compare this Ted. This was a complete different situation!"

"In what way was that different?"

Robin sighs. She feels horribly, the whole triangle nightmare of her, Ted and Barney seems to come to a new level. She is so exhausted and tired of all of that.

"Ted, no, please, I don´t want to talk about that now. That was years ago and I´m tired of talking about this again and again."

"I knew, I should´ve asked you right away. It was so clear, you are overthinking again."

"So you think it would´ve been better, if you had asked me when you came with the blue French horn, I may had said yes and then changed my mind?"

"No, but you may would have agreed to marry me and then you wouldn´t have backed out afterwards. You wouldn´t hurt my feelings that bad to get my hopes up high for a wedding and then leave me alone."

"Then you would´ve been okay with marrying me while knowing I´m not happy and want out?"

"No, it´s just…"

"Ted, listen to me. You always rush things. You tell people you are in love with them on your first date and now you immediately propose to me! You are so afraid that a woman runs away from you, that you do everything to settle them down as soon as possible. There was only one exception: Tracy. You have been a normal guy with her, you let the things take their course. Because she was the right one. I´m just saying, maybe it indeed is a sign, I´m not right for you, when you have the feeling you have to make me yours because I won´t stay any other way."

"So with Barney it was the same? You didn´t work out because he proposed too fast?"

"No", she answers sadly, "you guys didn´t get everything between me and Barney. There were moments before, it´s complicated. It has jus been different, okay?"

"Tracy was the One.", Ted says out of the blue, feeling his eyes watering. "I can´t do this without her. I searched for the One for years, then I finally find her but loose her not much later."

"Ted, you had some wonderful years with her. More than some people ever get with each other.", Robin answers, not without thinking of her and Barney who were only given 3 years.

"Tell me why."

"Why what?"

"Why don´t you want to be with me?"

"I never said that I don´t want to be with you. I only said, I don´t want to marry you immediately."

"But you want to be with me?"

Ted gives her a look of hope. She knows, she will hurt him. If not now, it will happen sometime in the future.

"No. I´m so sorry, Ted. You know, I often wished I would love you the way you love me, but I just don´t. There where times, where I wanted me to want you, because you were the safer choice and I knew you love me so much, you would never hurt me. But things changed. I can´t change my feelings. Actually, I reminisced about the past a little bit yesterday and I realized, all the things happening can have many points of views. Even if you think someone will hurt you eventually and you should not be with that person, it can turn out that this one person was the one that not only tried everything to make you happy, but also changed for the better and would be the last one to actually hurt you. Even if all the others think this person can never change, you fall in love with him anyways and even if it´s not to be meant forever, you still can have the time of your life and remember every moment of it in awe. Because actually it has been the best time of your life."

Ted can´t help but smile, "Woah, what happened? The commitment-phobic Robin who always refused to talk about relationships changed into a wise life-guru."

"Oh yeah, life experiences had made me wise. Things I threw away without fighting for it are the reason for that I think. I only realized back in New York how much I wished I would´ve fight more and wish that moments back."

"You talk about Barney, aren´t you?", Ted asks, but not without sounding bitter, Robin recognizes.

"What? Why Barney?", Robin tries to talk her way out of it.

"Cut that, Robin. I knew you were with him last night."

Robin is speechless for a second. When she finally finds her words again, she says angrily, "What? Oh my gosh, he didn´t pull the same shit as you did when calling him and telling him we were back together, didn´t he?"

"No, to be fair, he didn´t", Ted says, not without recognizing Barney must have told Robin about his call.

"Oh, really? So how do you know?"

"Don´t get mad, okay?"

"I won´t if you don´t give me any reason to be mad."

Ted gulped, "You weren´t answering your phone and I drove to your apartment, but you weren´t there, so I did some research… and it actually brought me to Barney´s new home. Hope you had a fun night in bed with him."

"Okay, first of all: Don´t even try to make me feel bad about this, me and Barney didn´t do anything else but talking and secondly: HOW DO YOU DARE TO SPY ON ME?", Robin screams at Ted.

"I was worried, okay? I thought you may get back together with Barney. I tried to protect you. I didn´t want him to get you again and taking you away from me."

Robin is really angry now, "That doesn´t give you the right to turn into a stalker! And you don´t have to protect me! I have a brand new information for you Ted: Women are NOT mindless. They have a free will and can decide for themselves. I´m not anyone´s property. So stop talking like Barney is some creeper who wants to rape me. I´ve been with him because I WANTED to, I slept with him, because I wanted to do and I married him because I freaking wanted to. Yes, I had doubts at the wedding, I can remember that, but it was because as long as I knew you and the rest of the gang, you always warned me about the bad playboy Barney. You know what? Sometimes I had doubts about myself. I thought something is wrong with me, because in my eyes, he was actually a really good friend. Of course, his plays were really sick sometimes, but he never did anything intentionally bad to his friends. When I slept with him for the first time, you all treated me like some poor victim and Barney like the biggest asshole. Everytime, I came closer to Barney, I always thought about how you guys will react. Barney was mean to many girls, but he always treated ME right- and that´s the thing that counts for me. And to your information, you don´t own me. Nobody can take me away from you, because I´m not yours. I´m not a thing anyone can steal from you! I´m an independent woman who cares for herself!"

"Woah, sorry okay. You don´t have to scream at me. I just tried to prevent you from making a big mistake."

"A big mistake? How can you talk about him like that? He´s your best friend."

"Marshall is my best friend."

This line leads to Robin´s anger exploding, "I´M SORRY. Then, Marshall is your best friend. I don´t care. Even if he´s not your best friend, I always thought you were friends! Nothing gives you the right to talk about him like that!"

"Did he tell you why we don´t talk anymore?"

"Yes, he did and you´re an asshole, if that´s the only reason you´re not talking to him anymore."

"WHAT? He compared me and Tracy with your guys´ marriage! Me and Tracy were soulmates!"

"Me and Barney were too!"

"You were not! Your marriage would have lasted if you were!"

"You don´t even know what really happened, okay? But the main reason we actually parted was that we both thought we make the other one unhappy. WE ACTUALLY CARED FOR EACH OTHER`S FEELINGS! We just didn´t talk about them. Otherwise, we may….", Robin suddenly stops.

"Otherwise you may be still together, or what?"

"I don´t know."

Silence is spreading in the room.

"Do you want to be with him again?", Ted finally breaks the awkward silence.

"Ted, don't be mad, but I don´t want to talk to you about this. I swore myself, I´ll never let other people judge my life again and tell me what´s good or not or what I should do and what not. The only reason I came today, was to talk to you and end this thing. I think we just aren´t meant to be Ted."

"Okay", was everything Ted managed to say.

When he doesn´t say another word, Robin starts speaking again, "I think I should go now, huh?"

"Yes, you better. Goodbye, Robin.", Ted says sadly.

Robin walks out of the door. She feels kinda bad for him, but it´s the best for all of them.

Ted feels tears coming again when he´s sitting all alone in the living room. Once again, he lost Robin. The pain was as bad as always. He finally stands up and takes some photo albums out of his shelf and looks at them. He finds a picture of him and Tracy. Ted can remember the moment shown on this picture very well. It was their night out when they realized they finally know all of each other´s stories. One line comes to his mind: "Ted, I don´t want you to be the guy who lives in his stories." He finally realizes what she meant with that. He had good times, but they are over now. He should look into the future with his beautiful children and not living in the past. Ted closes the albums, smiles and thinks to himself, "She always knew me better than I did myself. She knew all along it would be a mistake to run back to Robin or to run back to my past of a forcefully-searching-for-the-one-creep at all. I indeed had a wise wife."

And after all, though nobody thought this day would ever come, Ted Mosby finally manages to keep the past as wonderful memories in his heart, but lets them go at the same time, concentrating on the future.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: More of a filler chapter, that´s why it´s pretty short too. Hope you enjoy it anyways. Reviews are very welcome, as always. ;-)**

She knows she shouldn´t think about Barney either, but that isn´t working as well as with Ted. She struggles with phoning him, but everytime she grabs her phone, something holds her back. If he wants to see her, he will phone her she thinks. Otherwise it has been her idea to meet each other again. But she´s the girl, right? So, actually it´s the boy´s job to call. On the other hand, he always loved her for her independence, so maybe she should call him. Robin sighs, what the hell will be the right thing?

When two weeks have passed, she realizes, either she makes the first step or she won´t see Barney again. When she thinks about it, she kind of owes it to him to make a move on him. Most of the times, he fought for her, now it´s her turn. After a few seconds of fumbling nervously with the phone and what seems like endless rings, Barney finally answers.

"Go for Barney.", Robin smiles. This is the Barney she knows.

"Hey, Barney, it´s me."

"Hey…", Barney answers questioningly.

"With me, I mean Robin."

"I know that you are on the phone, Robin. I´m just surprised you call."

"We decided to meet some time, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. But I thought you forgot about it or changed your mind. It has been two weeks, I just didn´t expect it."

"I…..ummm, I´ve just been busy."

"Good for you."

"Do you still want to meet?"

"Actually, it has been you that wanted to meet."

This has been kind of rude – if any other guy had said it. But Robin knows what is happening there. He plays with her. He won´t do anything. She has to fight for him now. For them. So she answers, "Right, right. I wanted to meet. Just wanted to ask if you have some time left for me anytime soon"

"It depends…."

"Depends on what?"

"What you intend to wear.", Barney answers jokingly.

Robin laughs, "I don´t know yet. Still torn between only heels or only a tie. What do you think?"

Both of them laugh. It´s almost as it has been before.

"If you want to meet anytime soon, I think you should dress properly, though. Cause I´m not free anytime soon, if you want to meet me alone. If you don´t mind seeing Ellie too, we could meet on Thursday."

"Thursday´s awesome", Robin answers really quickly.

Barney is a little bit taken aback, she seems pretty eager to meet him.

"Okay, fine."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Grabbing some food maybe. Or watch a film?"

"Sounds good. I´ll come to your place at 8 o´clock."

"Ummm, Robin, that isn´t going to work."

Robin turns white. What does he mean? As he kept her at bay when they last meet, she was eased that he mostly seemed like the old Barney when calling him. Was that a game to hurt her? To first be all nice and like the old Barney, HER Barney, just to turn her down.

When Robin doesn´t say another word, Barney says, "Ellie is only ten. She has to go to school the next day. I don´t want her to be awake too long. She should be able to concentrate at school."

Robin sighed of release.

"Oh, sure. I´m sorry. I didn´t think about that. You know I´m not so familiar with kids", she chuckles nervously, "Is 6 o´clock okay?"

"Yes. Sounds far better."

They end the call. Robin is very happy. She can´t even explain it, but she is ridiculously excited for their meeting.

Barney feels kind of uneasy. He hopes he has done the right thing. He wanted to stay away from her. It took him such a long time to not think about her every day. He tried everything to fill the big hole she left when they divorced. But as it seems, it isn´t as easy to keep Robin away. She seems very eager to meet him. After all it makes sense, he thinks, people always want things they can´t have. Or think they can´t have. He is just happy that Ellie will be there too, so Robin and him won´t do anything they may regret afterwards.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: The next one is longer, I swear! Just very busy atm, but I try to update soon! Hope you enjoy and Review if you have some time.**

Thursday has finally arrived. She decided to wear a nice jeans which fits her really well and a sweet blue tanktop with a white blouse. She looks pretty sexy, but also not too sexy, so it can´t be misinterpreted.

She knocks on the door of Barney´s apartement and Ellie opens the door. Ellie gives Robin a big hug. Robin is startled, but she finally hugs her back. "Dad will be ready in a minute. He is on the phone with somebody."

"Sure, no problem. How are you, Ellie?"

"I´m good and you?"

"Fine as well.", Robin smiles. She doesn´t know what so say any further, so she tries it with a compliment, "Your hair looks awesome today, Ellie!"

"Oh thank you so much. I decided to curl it today. Glad you like it, I did it only for you.", Ellie smiles

"Aww that´s so sweet. But you shouldn´t have done that for me- you´re a beautiful girl, no matter what. Even when you come with us with unwashed hair and sweat pants you may still be the sweetest."

Ellie chuckles nervously and blushes, "Wow that means something if it comes from you"

"What do you mean."

"You´re very beautiful. I want to have your looks."

Now it´s Robin who blushes. Ellie is indeed one of the sweetest girls on the planet. She never wanted kids, but she could get used to this one.

"Hey, Scherbatsky!", Barney suddenly appears.

"Hi, Barney", Robin says in a squeaky tone.

Holy what am I doing? Did I just squeaked at him? What the hell is wrong with me?

Barney recognizes her voice and chuckles. "Do you need a drink, Sparkles?"

"I thought her name is Scherbatsky?", Ellie interrupts.

Barney breaks out in laughter, "Oh my god, right Ellie. You don´t know this story. Not yet. Your aunt Robin…"

"Stop it, Barney. I think I should tell her myself. But maybe at our 10th meeting, so she can learn the awesome things about me before the shameful one.", Robin stops him.

"Oh pleaseeee, I want to know! Please tell me!"

"We should totally go now, shouldn´t we?", Robin tries to change the topic.

They finally manage it to go out and get some Chinese food. The three of them sit down in the corner of the restaurant where they have a nice overview of the whole place and the people coming in.

Ellie is pretty chatty the whole time and Barney realizes soon that she is very fond of Robin. She adores her. He barely gets to speak to Robin until Ellie has to go to the toilet.

"Oh wow, she really seems to like you. I´m jealous.", Barney smiles at her.

"I really like her too. She´s really sweet and adorable. And very chatty.", she chuckles.

"She usually doesn´t speak that much. I think she´s just exited. She has told almost everybody that she will get to know her aunt Robin who travelled around the world."

"It´s okay, really."

They smile at each other goofily.

"Why does she still have that effect on me. I promised myself not to get too close to her, but her smile, her face, her looks – everything is lovable", Barney thinks. He doesn´t know that Robin thinks very alike.

"Oh my god, I´m so nervous. I´m sweating. I wanted to talk to him the whole night and now I finally have the chance to, I smile like an idiot and I´m not able to think of one proper topic to talk about. Why does he make me so nervous? And he is much older now, shouldn´t he look less attractive?"

When Barney opens the mouth to speak, they get interrupted. But not by Ellie. They just hear one screamed "Awwww" and one kind of angry "Are you serious?".

Lily and Marshall are standing in front of them.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: I´m so sorry, it took me so long, but I have to study a lot for university at the moment, so I hope you can forgive me. **

**As always, I really enjoyed all your Reviews. They mean a lot to me. I hope you also like this chapter. Comments, good and bad, are welcome. It´s more of a filler chapter again, I hope I can produce a more significant one next week. Enjoy!**

"Oh fuuuuuck.", was the first thing Robin says. Barney just stares at them.

"What are you guys doing here? It´s so great to see you!", Lily squeaks.

"I wanted to ask you the exact same question.", Robin stutters.

"Marshall and I needed some time for ourselves, so we thought we pay a visit to good old New York."

Silence spreads – and Lily is the only one who doesn´t speak because she is uncomfortable but because she is so excited. The other ones look around awkwardly. To Barney and Robin´s relieve, Ellie is coming back.

"OMG….NOOOOOO. Is this Ellie? You´ve grown up so much", Lily screams, getting some tears in her eyes.

"Uhhhh, yes, I´m Ellie."

"It´s me! Aunt Lily and this is Uncle Marshall! I know it´s been such long time, but we´ve spent much time together years ago!"

"Ohhh right. Dad talks about you sometimes. Nice to see you."

"Awwww, Barney, she´s adorable.", Lily says.

"So you´re happy family now, or what?", Marshall suddenly breaks his silence.

"Yes, of course. Ellie and I are very happy.", Barney answers in a warning tone.

"Yeah, you and Ellie and Robin. How great for you. Does Ted know?"

"What are you talking about?", Robin asks.

"Oh come on, Robin. Don´t act stupid. Not long ago, Ted has called me. He told me you are back together with him. He sounded so happy and now you´re sitting here with Barney? Are you serious? Is this triangle starting again? How can you betray Ted like that?"

"Oh my god, did Ted send a newsletter to all people we know?", Robin responds angrily.

"I think you´re in the wrong place to make accusations now, Robin. You´re the one who is betraying Ted!"

"Not that it´s any of your business, but I´m not with Ted, so I´m not betraying him! Who the hell do you think you are Marshall? We haven´t talked since the last dinner at your place- and that´s a while ago. And as far as I know you haven´t seen Barney for a long time either. So what about a "hello, good to see you first" before you act all grumpy and accuse me of things I haven´t done!", Robin shouts at a startled Marshall.

"Wow, wow guys. Calm down. What about us sitting down, eating a nice meal and talk about our lives before we start fighting in front of all people!", Lily tries to calm down her husband and her former best friend.

"I thought you needed some alone time. Now you want to sit with us?", Barney says.

"Oh come on. What is wrong with all of you? Have I missed something? Since when are we all fighting and are mean to each other?" Lily sits down without waiting for permission. Marshall does the same though he doesn´t seem too happy about it.

"Woah, you really do seem to like each other. I see why you were best friends", Ellie is the first to speak as they are all sitting.

"Ellie, don´t be so sarcastic", Barney orders her.

Lily chuckles, "Uh, Barney, the strict dad. That´s weird. I thought you would be more the kind of fun dad."

"I AM a fun dad. I am an awesome dad."

"He is", Ellie answers smiling a wide grin, "though he is a little bit too over-protective sometimes. He thinks some bad guys will catch me."

"It´s only for your best, Ellie."

"I´m ten years old, Dad."

"The world is full of mean guys and cheaters, honey."

"Yeah, if anybody knows, it´s your dad", Marshall says.

"Oh come on. Not in front of my daughter, Marshall", Barney stops him kind of annoyed.

"Yeah, Marshall. I have to agree with Barney. Just stop this now", Lily agrees, "Is it too much to ask to have a nice dinner with our best friends?"

"But Ted is not here", Marshall stays stubborn.

As all look at him angrily (except of Ellie, she is pretty confused) and don´t say a word, Marshall stops with his grumpy behavior.

They order some food and eat while talking about what has been going on in their lives. Though they talk mostly about unimportant stuff and avoid talking about Ted and why Robin and Barney are at this restaurant together, they have a nice time. Though Marshall was pretty quiet at first, he forgets his grudge after a while and becomes chatty. They laugh with each other and Ellie enjoys their company and joins in their conversations.

When it´s about 10 o´clock, Barney says, "Okay, guys. I´m sorry, but we have to go now. Ellie has to go to bed."

"Oh come on, Dad- it´s only.."

"No, Ellie, you have school tomorrow. We are going now."

Robin doesn´t know what to do now. Should she go with Barney and Ellie? Marshall would definitely catch on on this and start with his accusations again.

"The others could go with us", Ellie proposes.

"You have to go to sleep, Ellie. You couldn´t talk to them anyways while snoring"

"DAD", Ellie says embarrassed, "I´m not snoring. And I meant they could come, so YOU can talk to them. You seem to have a lot to talk about and I don't want to be the reason that you miss that opportunity.

"Hell, you have such a wise girl, Barney", Lily smiles.

"Okay, if you want to. Do you want to come to my place?"

"Yes, sure", Lily answers.

So they all go back to Barney´s and Ellie´s.

Ellie is going to sleep soon and Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney make themselves comfortable in the living room. They drink some Scotch and eat some chips and continue their light-hearted talking, at least until Marshall asks the inevitable, "So, what´s going on here?"


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Finished a new chapter. Woohooo! Hope you like it- Enjoy!**

"Oh come on, don´t ask stupid. Since when are you meeting again?"

"It´s a long story", Robin interrupted, it´s pretty clearly she isn´t so excited talking about this.

"I have a lot of time", he glances at Lily, "we have a lot of time"

"Marshall, please can´t you just let it go?", even Lily is annoyed by Marshall now.

"I want to know what the fuck has happened! I don´t get anymore. Ted saw Robin, they were a couple, she slept with Barney, Barney and her get together, they get married, they get divorced, Ted marries Tracy, Tracy dies, Robin is flying around the world, she comes back to New York, she starts dating Ted again, Ted is happy, we come to New York and we see with…. Great surprise, not Ted, but Barney! I´m sorry when I´m confused!"

"You don´t seem that confused. Has been a pretty nice summary of all the events happening", Robin snaps.

Marshall eyes her with a "don´t-talk-to-me-like-this-young-lady-face" and Robin gives in.

"Ted came to me with the blue French horn again, I felt flattered and let him in. I´m back in New York and I feel pretty alone now, you know? And I thought getting back together with Ted isn´t the worst idea. He loved me all those years and I thought it´s better than ending up alone getting eaten by my dogs when I die. But then I got doubts and Ted proposed to me – I should´ve known, he pulled a typical Mosby- and I kind of broke up with him. Though you can´t call that break-up because we weren´t together really. We haven´t even had sex!"

"Still doesn´t explain why you are hooking up with Barney again"

"Okay, first of all: nobody said or did anything about hooking up! I came to him because I just wanted to meet him. I haven´t seen him in such a long time"

Though Lily hasn´t seen her best friend in years, she knows exactly that Robin keeps some details from them. But she keeps her mouth shut in order to not heat the already burning talking up.

"So you´re not together?" Marshall asks.

"No, we´re not! We didn´t cheat on your holy saint Teddy boy", Barney says through gritted teeth.

"It´s none of your business, Marshall! In addition to that I wanted to get to know Ellie"

"You didn´t care much about Ellie the last years, haven´t you?", Marshall answers her, ignoring Barney´s mad behavior.

"You know what, Marshall- Robin is right. It´s none of your business. You didn't care much about Ellie either, or me. You all have been very talented in shutting me out of your lives", Barney says.

"Oh come on. We always invited you to our dinners….."

"Oh, shut up, Marshall. You invited me because you had to but not because you wanted me there."

"Okay- ENOUGH! What is wrong with you guys? Why is everybody so bitter? We used to be best friends!"

"No Ted and Marshall were best friends", Barney imitated in a high-pitched voice.

"ENOUGH!" , Lily shouted again.

"You know what?", Barney is fuming now, "YOU guys are in MY apartment. So stop screaming around. I dare you to wake my daughter up. Fact is, I have always been the left out in our group. I have always been the bad guy, no matter what I did. I don´t want to hold this against you, but I just want to remind me that I brought you two back together in the first place. Yes, okay, you were disgusted about my plays and how I treated women. But I´ve never ever been a bad friend. You can´t say this about me!"

"Oh really? So you haven´t taken Robin away from Ted.", Marshall grunts.

"IF YOU DARE TO SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME I WILL NEVER EVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN, MARSHALL!", Robin screams. This sentence made her loose her nerves. "Remember one point, my dear, I AM NOT A FUCKING THING one man can take from another. I´m not someone´s toy! Did it ever come to your mind that Barney didn´t take me away, but that I went to him because I FUCKING WANTED TO! Not because I wanted to cheat on Ted, what is irrational because I´m not, I say it again NOT HIS PROPERTY. Because of you, I had a bad conscience after sleeping with Barney. But guess what? Not because I didn´t want to or because he tricked me in some sick play or anything, no because you made me feel like I deceived Ted. Of course, I understand, Ted might was shocked, but seriously- we weren´t a couple at this point. And even if Barney break the bro-code or something, it wasn´t him alone. I´m as guilty as he is. No wait- guilty is the wrong word- I was as involved as he was. Period."

The three of them stare at Robin. They haven´t expected such an explosion of emotions. They all sit silent. Marshall looking at his shoes, feeling ashamed, Lily kind of touched by the speech and Barney- well Barney is impressed. It´s been one thing hearing it from her when they have been alone, but in front of Marshall and Lily- that was huge! She stands by him and though he always appreciated her independence, he always thought she could be more independent concerning her friends´ opinion. He almost feels like back after they found out about their secret summer. Robin had such a crush on him and was horny all the time and didn´t care about what Lily, Ted or Marshall said. They were free. Things changed when they started to feel miserable. Their marriage of course has been another chapter, but though she committed to him, he still felt Robin was more on their friends´ side. Robin´s cheeks are red because she got so heated when talking. It was kind of weird, but she also feels somehow released. She loves Marshall and Lily and even though Lily stood behind her and Barney´s relationship most of the time, she always felt she had to explain herself why she loves Barney. They never seemed to see the good sides of Barney as her, so she didn´t talk to them about it most of the time in order to not to feel silly.

"We should go", Lily finally says. Before Marshall can protest, she takes his hand and drags him with her. "I´m sorry if we cause you any trouble, Barney. Maybe we could see each other anytime soon again? Maybe when all of you guys are calm again. We will have dinner together. Or what about a shopping trip, Robin? We have a lot to catch up on", Lily says in an excusing and conciliatory way.

"Yes, of course we can", Robin manages a small smile.

"Don´t worry, Lil. I´m sorry it had to end this way tonight. I would ask you to stay longer, but I´m tired and I have a huge headache from all the excitement and screaming, so.."

"It´s okay, Barney. Most of the night was really nice. I had a lovely time. It was good to see you again. Have a good night"

"Good night", Barney and Robin answer in unison.

Marshall, apparently having a bad conscience, says before closing the door and heading home with Lily, "Good night, guys. It was a nice surprise to see you today.", He pats Barney on the shoulder and gives Robin a hug. She lets it happen, but doesn´t answer the hug. She waves a goodbye and Marshall and Lily go.

Robin stays behind. She should go too, but she doesn´t want to leave after that night without talking to Barney alone.

"Sorry that I caused you so much trouble, Barney."

"You? You have been the only one of the adults tonight that didn´t cause me any trouble." , Barney smiles unsure if he should say the following words, but he just takes the risk and says them, "I had a fun night after all and that´s because of you. Thank you for standing up to me. It was kind of …..uhm…nice to have someone who defends me against them. Also, I know you married me and everything, but it was nice to hear you stand by your choice and don´t feel guilty about it. I mean about the night we slept together… um the first time, I mean."

Robin loves it when Barney acts all shy and cute. She always liked bad boys but they can´t compare to Barney´s soft side when he lets his sweet sides out.

"I don´t feel guilty about our marriage either. That has never been in doubt. That was so long after Ted. I´m just sorry you got to know I had said I want to run away with Ted on my wedding day. It had been the jitters, but as soon as I had talked to you my doubts were away. And when I kissed and hugged you, I forgot all about Ted. Basically, I forgot about all the other people in the world."

Barney grins, "Don´t be cheesy, Scherbatsky. I don´t know you like that." He winks.

"I´m not cheesy, I´m being honest.", Robin smiles back, "I made a lot of mistakes over the years but marrying you has never been one of them." Robin gulps and her heart races. To say the following words costs her a lot of strength, "but maybe the divorce was one. You know, uhhhm, a mistake?"

Barney smiles, but his cockiness is away. His heart starts beating. Damn, will the feelings for this women ever go away? Maybe not, he thinks. It has been true what he said to her years ago: He couldn't stop loving her anymore than he could stop breathing. The only thing he could do was trying to forget her, bring all the stuff away that remind him of her. But he will never get rid of the memories that are flashing through his mind when he looks in those beautiful eyes.

Barney eyes get wide, when Robin moves closer to him. She places her hand on his chest and looks him in his eyes deeply. Their mouths get closer, when they suddenly get interrupted,

"Aunt Robin was the woman you married and left you broken-hearted?", Ellie asks shocked when she comes out of her room. She didn´t sleep, instead of that she overheard every word.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: New chapter (more like a filler one). Enjoy!**

**(And only for SwarklesFan55: I tried not to end it with a cliffhanger this time ;-) )**

Robin blinks hastily, „I gotta go."

"Bye", Barney says and ruffles his hair.

As soon as the door closes, Barney turns to his daughter. "Why are you still up?"

"Oh come on. You haven´t been quiet, you know? I heard you and the other ones screaming. I also heard Aunt Robin´s outburst. Suddenly it was quiet, I thought all of them were gone. But as it was too quiet then and so I looked if you are okay. All I saw was you and Robin. I heard every word she said."

"Listen, I´m sorry that you couldn´t fall asleep because of us, but now, you should go to bed, honey."

"I think I need a story to be told until I can sleep. Maybe a story about….hm….I don´t know. A man with blonde hair and blue eyes and a beautiful brunette who broke up because of certain circumstances…."

"Well played, young lady. Go to bed. You have school tomorrow. You won´t be able to concentrate when you don´t go now."

"But…."  
"NOW!"

Ellie rolls her eyes, turns around and slams her door. "Good Night", Barney screams after her, but she doesn´t answer.

"Great, she´s mad", Barney thinks. But he can´t talk to her about him and Robin. She´s only ten, she wouldn´t understand. In addition to that she would only be hurt if he and Robin fight again. Ellie really seems to like her, but he doesn´t want her to be hurt when Robin is leaving again. And that´s what Robin always does, he thinks. He knows from experience him and Robin won´t work out. If there were no Ellie involved, he would have jumped Robin immediately, but this way… He has no idea what to do. Robin seems to be attracted to him- still, after all these years. But he knows her too well. Robin may think she can´t have him and has a lobster-revertigo. He is sure, if he and Robin rekindle their relationship, he will be hurt. Not only he, but Ellie too. If only it wasn´t Robin he is thinking about. Robin is his weak point. He told her years ago, he isn´t thinking about her that way anymore, but she surely has understood that wrong. She called him Daddy – and he meant he isn´t thinking about her anymore in the "dirty, little girl who needs to be punished- way", but in a "I have a daughter now, I have realized how important a family is. Ellie is so exhausting sometimes, but I love her so much, so I keep caring for her. I should have done the same for you. It was exhausting travelling all around the world and I hated how you pushed me away, but I shouldn´t have given up on us. I should have continued fighting for our marriage." But Barney knows, Robin thinks it meant "I´m not sexually attracted to you anymore" – it´s just so not what he meant. He still thinks she´s beautiful (though her haircut is weird right now).

A text message pulls him out of his thoughts. It´s Robin.

_Sorry, Barney. Hope everything is okay. I didn´t want to leave u all alone with Ellie, but I thought it´s better when u talk 2 her alone. I don´t want her 2 think I´m interrupting in your father-daughter relationship. I don´t want 2 b one of dad´s girlfriends everybody hates. hope u´re not mad. And I thought as the weekend is coming up, we could hang out together again. _

Barney smiles. He likes it that Robin seems to care about Ellie too. He answers:

_No need to be sorry. She went to bed now- for real this time. At least I hope so. ;) She´s a good girl most of the time, but sometimes she loves to get on my nerves with not going to bed. Yeah, we could- but only if there´s less drama this time._

The answer comes immediately

_Hahaha okay, I´ll try to push all the drama away xD_

_Awesome. Night ;)_, he answers

_Good night, Barnman!_

_Barnman says goodnight back to Robin!_

He smiles sheepishly. She manages to put a smile on his face every time. And to have his legs like jelly and the butterflies flying like crazy in his stomach. Maybe there is still a chance for them? After all, she still wants to see him at the weekend.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Not really happy about this chapter, but I didn´t want to let you wait any longer. Enjoy anyways!**

Ellie is really grumpy the next morning- obviously due to a lack of sleep. Barney drives her to school and goes to his work afterwards.

When he and Ellie are home again, Barney asks her about a new meeting with Robin. She agrees happily and this time it´s Barney who calls Robin. They settle for a date (or meeting as the two of them prefer to call it) for Sunday.

The date on Sunday goes pretty well. They grab some Chinese food and head to the cinema. The movie, though for children, is very funny actually. This time, Robin has to head home and has no time to come back with Barney and Ellie to their place because she has to finish a story for WWN until Monday.

The following days Barney and Robin have not much time to meet each other, but they text regularly. The texts get more flirty with time and they are falling back to their old ways. They become real friends again – friends who clearly want something more, but time and also Ellie don´t allow them to be alone, let alone getting closer.

Not until about 2 months later.

All of it starts when Ellie catches a bad cold and gets fever. Due to that she can´t go to school, but Barney has to work. He has a very important meeting that day and his boss would kill him if he skips on it. As he doesn´t want her to be home alone all sick and Ellie refuses to have a nanny since she´s 8 years old, he only sees one possibility: he calls Robin. Robin has taken some holidays this week to finish a huge report.

"Hey Robs, how are you?"

"Oh Barney, hi!", Robin answers the call happily. She´s just happy, he can´t see her right now. A huge grin spreads on her face and she blushes when he calls her Robs, "Nice that you are calling. What´s up?"

"Actually, I wanted you to do me a favor…."

"Oh…", Robin is disappointed. She was delighted when he called, because HE is finally making a move, not vice versa. But as it seems, he isn´t calling because he wants to hear her voice or asking for a date.

"Look, I have a big problem. I have a very important meeting today and I´m forced to go there. Unfortunately, Ellie got sick, but I don´t want her to lie in bed all day long all by herself, especially not when she´s sick. So, as you don´t have to go to work today, I thought you could have an eye on Ellie maybe."

Robin stutters, "But, ummmm Barney I don´t know. Me and kids… all alone. I don´t think that´s a good idea."

"Robin, please. I beg you, just today! This isn´t about you and kids, but about you and Ellie. She loves you and I thought you adore her too."

"I do, Barney. She´s an awesome girl and I love her, but we´ve never done something together. It´s always been the three of us. I don´t know what to do, what to say."

"Robin, she´s sick. She will sleep the whole day anyway. You just have to check on her once in a while. You even can continue your story. Just take your laptop and feel like home at my place. I only want someone to be there if her temperature gets higher or she needs some food."

"Barney….."

"Look, I don´t want to force you, but you would do me a great favor!"

"Okay, I think I can do it for a day. But please don´t kill me if I do anything wrong."

"Thank you, Robin. I mean it: thank you so so much. I don´t even know how to thank you properly."

"Ohhhhh, I could think of a proper way", Robin thinks, "oh my god, my dirty mind"

"Robin?"

"Yesss, still there."

"I could invite you to dinner…"

"No, you don´t have to. I´m doing it for you and Ellie."

Barney chuckles, "Yeah, yeah, right. That´s sweet, Robin, but I will invite you. You can think of a restaurant you want to go to while you´re watching Ellie."

"Okay, thanks. I will." She smiles.

**PLEASE READ:**

**Hey guys! Just a short announcement: I´m going on holidays in july, therefore I can´t update much. I have written two new chapters already and will post them in the course of july, but there won´t be anymore this month. I will update more often in August. Hope all of you guys will have a nice summer.**

**Thanks for reading! (Please read and review anyway - would make my holiday an even happier time)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello guys! As said, I'm on holiday, so chapters only come slowly, but here is a new one! The next one is longer again, but until then- read and Review this chapter please. Thank you3**

**hope everybody has a nice summer**

Half an hour later, Robin steps into Barney´s and Ellie´s place.

"Hey, Robin. Thank you so much! You´re an angel", Barney hugs her wildly, clearly relieved she agreed to look after Ellie today.

"No problem. At least I hope so. You should take all your important stuff with you, in case I blow the house up or something."

"Awwwww, I would, but Ellie and you can´t come with me and the other stuff can burn", he winks.

She smiles sheepishly, when Ellie appears. "Hey, sweetie!", Robin greets the girl.

"Hey, Aunt Robin. Thank you for coming. Though I think dad is overreacting again. I can care for myself."

"What are you doing? You should stay in bed, you know that!" Barney says reprehensively.

"I wanted to go to the toilet, but if you prefer me wetting my bed, just tell me."

"Not in that tone, young lady", Barney grins at her.

She goes to the toilet, Barney and Robin just stand there waiting for her. When she is back, Barney asks, "So, can I leave you ladies alone now or do you need anything?"

"I can´t think of anything", Robin answers

"Me neither. I just want to go back to bed and sleep forever."

"Okay great", Barney kisses Ellie on her forehead and whispers a "Get well" and "Behave" in her ears. He claps Robin on the shoulder and before leaving he mouths a "Thank you" to Robin.

As soon as the door closes, Ellie takes Robin´s hand and leads her to her room.

"You have a nice room, Ellie."

"Thank you", Ellie answers while crawling back into her bed. "You don´t have to stay under the doorframe, come in. You can sit on my bed."

Robin moves over to Ellie and sits on the bed, smiling at her, but feeling really weird, because she doesn´t know what to say or do now.

"Well, I´m sick, but I don´t bite you know?"

"Hmmmm?", Robin asks confused?

"You can come closer. You don´t have to sit on the edge of the bed"

"Okay", Robin crawls into the bed lying down next to Ellie. While doing that she thinks ´gosh, please don´t infect me, I can´t stay away from work´ - she hates herself for that, because Ellie is so sweet and everything, but still.

"You smell really good, Aunt Robin."

"Are you hitting on me, girl?", Robin laughs.

"No", Ellie laughs too. "I just think you smell good. Like a mom."

"I smell like a mom? Wouldn´t that mean smelling like puke and diapers?"

"No", Ellie breaks out in laughter, when her cough interrupts the sweet girly laugh.

"I wish I´d have someone with a mom-smell at my side every day", Ellie whispers.

"Oh come on, honey. Your dad smells more amazing than any mom could ever be."

Ellie stares at her and Robin realizes what she just said. `Oh my god, what´s wrong with me? Did I really just say to a 10-year-old-kid that her dad smells good? Well done, Scherbatsky, for implying you sniff at her dad´, Robin thinks to herself while blushing.

"I…. I didn´t mean you…because…. I… your….. dad…. He seems like a guy who smells good."

"Aunt Robin, I´m sorry, but you make no sense"

"Okay, then let´s do us both a favor and talk about anything else."

Ellie doesn´t answer and cuddles to Robin. She wraps her little arms around Robin´s left arm and closes her eyes. "I think I´ll sleep now, Aunt Robin."

"Okay, honey", Robin wants to stand up, but Ellie doesn´t let her go.

"Could you please stay until I fall asleep?"

"Uhmmm, yes, I guess."

Robin lies down again, Ellie is curling up next to her. It doesn´t take long until Ellie´s breath grows heavier and regularly. Robin watches the sweet girl while sleeping. While doing that a pleasant warm feeling spreads in her- but at the same time she also has a lump in her throat. And though she would never admit it to anyone, there clearly is a tear in her eye when she watches the girl. Barney´s little girl. His sweet daughter. The girl that should be Barney´s and hers.


	18. Chapter 18

**an: Hey guys! I decided to post this chapter now as long as I have internet. As I'm on holidays and I only come back at about the 30th of July, you'll have to wait a little bit. But as an excues, the next chapter will be extra good and maybe some interesting stuff is happening ;-).**

**so enjoy this and please review! Tell me about your thoughts, feelings, complaints, wishes etc. concerning the Fiction. Thanks to all of you staying with me!**

Robin has made herself comfortable in the living room, writing on her report. Three hours go by until she hears Ellie in her room. Robin stands up and goes to her room. Ellie sits on her bed.

"Everything okay, honey? Do you need anything?"

"Hey, no thanks I´m fine."

"Sure?"

Ellie just nods. Robin goes to her and sits down next to her.

"You look really pale. Do you need water or anything?"

Ellie sneezes.

"Bless you."

"Thank you. And yeah, I feel a little dizzy, a glass of water would be great."

Robin gets her a glass of water and Ellie drinks all of it immediately.

"Thanks, I already feel a little bit better now."

"Do you know when daddy comes home?", Ellie suddenly asks.

"Sorry, I don´t know. But I´m sure he tries to be home as fast as he can. He was very worried, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. Hope he comes back soon. It´s not that I don´t like you to be here, it´s just…"

"You really love your dad, don´t you?", Robin interrupts her and smiles.

"Of course I do. He´s my dad. Sure, he´s a little bit too childish sometimes, even for me, but I couldn´t wish for a better dad. Some of my friends don´t even know their dad or see them very rarely. I´m glad he is there for me."

"That´s good, you should be glad."

"What about you?", Ellie asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you love dad?"

Robin laughs nervously, "You know, me and my dad never were that close. He always wanted a boy…"

"I didn´t mean if you love your dad. I want to know if you love MY dad."

Robin knew exactly what she meant the first time around, but she thought she could get out of this topic somehow.

"Oh… Ellie, you know, it´s complicated."

"It´s not. Either you love someone or not. End of story. You were married to him, so you must have loved him at some point."

"Hasn´t your father already talked to you about this?"

"No, he refuses to talk about the both of you. And your marriage. And everything else about your relationship."

"Then, I´m sure that your dad doesn´t want me to talk about it either."

"I asked you if you love him – present time. Not what your marriage was like."

"Ellie, I think you should lay down again and go back to sleep.", Robin tries to ignore her question, but Ellie is stubborn.

"Why won´t you tell me?", Ellie has tears in her eyes now. "I deserve to know why you break my dad´s heart and why you are here now. Do you want to marry him again?"

"Ellie, calm down, okay? You don´t have to cry."

"Then tell me!", she whines.

"Me and your dad were together, then we broke up, but we got back together. We were very much in love and so we got married."

"And?"

"And what?"

"The part of the story that I want to know is why you got divorced."

"I travelled around the world for my job, as you know. I did that back then too. Your father often came with me and we had lots of fun. But after a while, the job kept me more and more busy and we didn´t see each other anymore very often. We drove apart. I just had not enough time for a job and a husband and your father wasn´t happy about that and got bored. He had to do many things like sightseeing by himself, but he always wanted me to join him. I would´ve loved to join him and do things with him, but time was rare. So most of the time we had one fight after the other and we decided to get a divorce."

"This is the most stupid crap I´ve ever heard."

"What?", Robin asks in a high pitched voice.

"You two were miserable, not because you didn´t love each other anymore, but because you two loved each other so much that you wanted to spend more time together. But instead of trying to spend more time together you decided to spend NO time together anymore and got a divorce? That makes absolutely no sense."

"It…It… IT´S DOES, OKAY? There was no time left I could have spend with your dad. It was a full time job. I didn´t want to hurt him anymore than necessary. I thought I better let him go, so he can find someone else who can give him what he wants."

"If you have no time, you just have to make time. And he never wanted someone else, he wanted you."

"Ellie, it´s not that easy. You will understand, when you grow up.", Robin sighs, "Your dad, didn´t want me enough, otherwise he wouldn´t have taken the out. I gave him an out of our wedding and he immediately took it."

Silent tears are flowing down Ellie´s eyes.

"Honey, why are you crying now?"

"Because I feel awful and the story makes me sad."

"I´m sorry, but you insisted on hearing the story."

"Why didn´t you fight for him? Why did you give him the out in the first place? You could have taken a few days off and spend time with him."

"It wouldn´t have changed things."

"You can´t know. Dad always says, it´s not important how much time you spend with someone, it´s only important with whom you spend it. He says I should appreciate every moment because no one can ever take back beautiful memories. I´m sure he would have been grateful if you just had spent some quality time with him."

Robin doesn´t answer immediately. She looks at Ellie, sighs and suddenly hugs her. "You are a very wise girl, Ellie. You´re right, he maybe would´ve been grateful, but sadly you often realize you should have fight for something long after it´s already gone."

Ellie hugs her back. Neither of them says a word. Ellie goes back to bed while Robin is making some tea and soup for her.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Sorryyyyyyyy for the Long wait. Coming home from Holidays was stressful, lots of things to do and then I caught the flu. Anyways, here´s a new chapter. I hope you like it and it can excuse the long wait!**

Robin brings Ellie her tea and soup. She wakes her up and Ellie drinks and eats, but goes straight to bed afterwards. She seemed very exhausted to Robin, so Robin decides to sneak out of the room as quiet as she can. As soon as she sits down in front of her laptop again, she hears the door being opened.

"Hello, girls. I´m back." It´s Barney

"Oh hey, Barney", Robin jumps on her feet, "Ellie is asleep."

"Oh, I see. How is she?"

"I think she´s a little bit better, but still pretty ill. Her cough still sounds badly and she sleeps a lot."

"Okay. I will check on her."

Barney leaves Robin behind and she is just standing there, not sure what to do now. Should she go? Should she wait until Barney comes back? Should she say goodbye to Ellie? The problem solves itself as Barney comes back as Robin is switching off her laptop, ready to head back to her place.

"Are you going home already?"

"Uhmm, yes, I think so", Robin answers.

"You don´t have to, you know. Come on, drink at least a coffee with me before you´re going."

Robin agrees happily and the two of them sit down on the couch in the living room together both with a cup of coffee in their hands.

"Wow. Somehow, that´s weird. I´m drinking coffee with Robin Scherbatsky on my couch. In the evening."

"Why is that weird?"

"Oh pleaseee. You and me? We never drank coffee late in the day, only in the morning. Scotch has always been the number one drink at our evenings."

Robin laughs, "Yeah, you´re right. Hell, as you say that, I miss this tradition."

"Yeah, me too. As you can imagine, I couldn´t hold onto that tradition as soon as Ellie was born. I miss my good old friend, Mister Scotty Scotch."

"Oh come on. I should believe you that? Really? Barney Stinson doesn´t drink scotch anymore? That´s ridiculous."

Barney grins, "I never said, I don´t drink it anymore. I just don´t drink it on a daily basis anymore."

"Still hard to believe", Robin chuckles.

"I´ll show you something. But only if you promise me, you won´t tell anyone. It´s a secret", Barney shhhh´s her with his finger as she starts laughing.

"Okay", she giggles.

Barney gets up from the couch and Robin follows him. He leads her into his bedroom. "HIS BEDROOM", she thinks and blushes like a tomato.

"Barney, come on, if you show me some weird, pervert sex toy now, I´m going", Robin says in a playfully strict manner. To be honest, she wouldn´t even mind, if he shows her one of his toys.

"Scherbatsky, why so dirty? I think you´re forgetting constantly that I´m a well-behaving, settled father now." Barney answers in an even playful way.

"Hard to believe, Stinson."

He just smiles and goes to his closet. When he opens it, Robin realizes it´s more than that. It´s a suit room.

"The old Barney is still alive", she points out.

"My suits are my best friends, Robin. One doesn´t give up on his best friends", Barney explains to her, when he adds "except your name is Ted or Marshall" in a whispering tone.

He said these last words more to himself, but Robin didn´t miss them.

"You are missing them after all, aren´t you?"

"Whom?"

"Barney, you know exactly whom I mean."

"I don´t want to talk about them, okay. Not today."

Barney disappears in his suit-room, lies down on the floor and pulls out a box from under some suits.

"We should better talk about another best friend of mine. Here he is", Barney proudly presents her a bottle full of fine, original Scotch. From Scotland.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh", Robin cheers, "What about the well-behaved father?"

"The well-behaved father is there all day long and sometimes he needs some help from a friend to be a well-behaved father the next day too."

Robin laughs, "I see."

"You want some?"

"Course"

Barney takes some scotch-glasses out of his box and opens the bottle.

"Wow, you even hide the glasses?"

Barney gives her a glass full of scotch, "Shut up and drink Scherbatsky", he winks at her.

They clink their glasses and drink.

"Woah, this is some very good scotch."

"Oh, I hope so. I would be very disappointed in you otherwise. It´s the one and only brand of scotch we got served at our wedding after all."

"It´s what?"

"The ridiculously expensive scotch we served at our wedding. See the brand? It´s "Sprinkler"* from Scotland. Back then it was such a common brand, but today, it´s very rare. We chose it, because it reminded me of "Sparkles". It took ages to convince you. Actually, I was lucky it tastes so good. Otherwise I would have had no chance. Anyways, I still could get five bottles."

Robin is stunned. "Oh wow, that´s so….uhm…..it´s cool."

"Cool?", Barney laughs.

"Yeah, cool. And sweet. Oh, don´t look at me like that. Give me some more of that liquid", Robin takes the bottle from him, but when she looks at the bottle, she hesitates.

"What is this?", she whispers.

"A bottle of scotch, Robin", he gives her that typical Barney look.

"This is a bottle of our wedding scotch."

"Yes, I know, Robin. I told you about it after 2 seconds."

"No, Barney, no. This. This bottle, I hold in my hands. It´s not just a bottle with the same brand of scotch we had at our wedding. Look at the tag. There´s not only Sprinkler written on it, but also "Barnman and Robin are now troubling the world together". Remember? We let print that on the bottles."

Barney is confused. "Uhhh, I know, Robin. That´s what I told you. It´s not a big revelation you just made, silly."

"I thought it´s just the same brand, not actually a bottle from our wedding. I didn´t know you have this."

"I always kept this bottle as something like a lucky charm. I know, it didn´t bring me that much luck considering our divorce, but I didn´t want some really good scotch to rot in some storage with all the other stuff. Scotch has always been OUR thing, you know. So I thought, if I keep anything from this stuff, it should be one bottle of Sprinkler. However, it´s only that one bottle. The other four bottles I mentioned are the same brand, but not from our actual wedding."

Robin is moved. "Aww, so this is the very last bottle, huh?"

"Yes. I thought I can open it now as you´re the only one I would drink this scotch with."

Robin hates herself for being so emotional, but she feels some tears coming. He kept the bottle all these years. She moves closer to Barney and hugs him. He hugs her back immediately and they are just standing there hugging each other for a while. Robin breaks the silence (but not the hug) with a whispered "thank you". Barney whispered back in her ear, "It´s just a bottle of scotch, nothing to thank for."

"Not for the scotch. Not only."

"Then what for?", he asks

"Just for being you."

Barney wants to break the hug to look her in the eyes, but Robin has other plans. Before he knows, what is happening, he feels Robin´s soft lips on his, shyly waiting for a kiss back. And he gives her exactly the answer she wants.

*The Name of the Scotch is not real.


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: wow, guys. Finally a kiss and no comments? I hope you were just too amazed to write ;).**

**anyways, here's a new chapter. pretty short, but I thought I'll post it. So, read and review. Would mean a lot. Thank you :)**

**(p.s. tyler: thanks for your review! means a lot. I don't know how long I will go on with this fic, but I think it won't take too long anymore. I don't think there will be more than 30 chapters, but who knows. We'll see.)**

Robin feels like in heaven when Barney kisses her back. She presses herself against him and deepens the kiss towards his soft lips. How she missed these kisses. When Barney wraps his arms around her even tighter, she grabs his tie and pulls him closer to her, if that is even possible. Their small kiss is turning into a huge make-out and she pushes him against the bed.

They fall on Barney's bed, Robin is all over him, when Barney suddenly breaks the kiss. He is breathless and Robin looks at him questioningly.

"What's wrong?", she whispers.

He sits up and Robin lets go of him.

"Robin, don't get me wrong, but..."

Everything turns black. Not again. Robin wants to scream. Is he serious? She throws herself at him after he has flirted with her for days, after she watched his daughter, after he gave her all the signals and now he's backing out? Did he fool her all along? Was this just one of his plays all over again? Did he just play the sensitive guy who is deeply hurt by all his friends? How can he do that to her? Why did he kiss her back when he is now pushing her away?

Robin feels the tears coming, but she won't give Barney any more power over her than he already has. So she decides to run away, like she always did and still does. She will not let him see her tears, he mustn't know she's hurt.

"You know what. Just shut up. I'm sorry.", Robin sniffs, jumps out of the bed and runs out of the room. She quickly packs her laptop, storms out of the door and leaves Barney behind.

Barney, feeling dizzy, stumbles out of his bedroom and wants to follow her, wants to explain what he meant to say. But he is too slowly. Robin is already out of the apartement and so he fumbles for his phone to call her. Of course she doesn't pick up her mobile phone. Barney curses. "Why does that woman always do that? She runs away, so afraid of having feelings, let alone show them to anybody, though she doesn't even know what exactly made him to push her away."

Barney considers running after her, but he can't because of Ellie. It would take too long to explain where he is going and on top of it, she is ill. He can't let her alone without telling her where he goes either. She would be all upset when she wakes up and realizes he's not there. No, he can't do that.

After struggling what to do, he finally decides to send her the following message:

"Hey, Robin. Could we please talk? Why do you always run away from me? Could you just trust me for once and not jumping to conclusions? We are no mid-twenties anymore, robin, we are fucking grown-ups. So please stop acting all hurt when you don't even know what I wanted to say. If you're honest to yourself, you'll realize, you are just afraid (again) that maybe we could actually work and talk this out. It really seems to me, you don't want us to work out sometimes. I never wanted a girlfriend because of the talk and all the lame conversations about relationships. Then I found you- someone who is exactly like me- but no, wait. You're worse than me, considering this robin. I'm totally okay when we keep relationship-Talks to a minimum, but we can't go without them at all. You know that. After all these years I spent pining after you and trying my best to win you over, I was so happy YOU seemed to finally make some moves on ME. And to be honest, I think it's pretty unfair that you are running away now. If I had given up every time, you refused me we had had no past as a couple at all. So, sorry for the long message, I just need to tell you this, I hope you give it a shot for once, get over your pride and contact me. If you don't, I'll just assume you've given up on us all over again. Have a good night. You know how much you mean to me. Barney x"


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: Thank you so much for your reviews guys! I'm glad you like it. I know this chapter is more blah-blah again, but I hope you'll like it anyways.**

** Sam: Thank you for your sweet Review! I'm so glad it feels like the actual show for you, because I want them to be in character (not like in this weird AU people like carter called a finale) ;)**

**btw, if you have some time, check out my story "the nanny". It's also about b/r and ellie. Maybe I will write some story only about b&amp;r and their life too. So, please check it out and tell me what you think!**

Robin wakes up early in the morning. Her eyes are red and her had hurts badly. She cried herself to sleep yesterday. She really thought they could actually work out this time, but now she´s lying in her own bed instead of Barney´s with a big headache, swollen eyes and a huge heartbreak. After lying around for another 20 minutes, she accepts she won´t get anymore sleep this morning and drags herself out of bed.

She doesn´t feel like doing anything today, but she has to check her phone – she can´t miss a call from her boss. As soon as she takes her phone she realizes Barney has left her a text message. Unsure whether she should read it or not, she stares at her phone. Her tears are coming again, it´s just too much for her. The last few months were full of stress, she feels exhausted and also a little bit depressed. Her life has been so much easier when she was traveling around the world. She had a tight schedule and therefore no time for overthinking. It was perfect. And now everything is complicated. Maybe it´s New York – all those memories, all the people and most of all Barney- all of that is far more stressful than her job has ever been. Her phone buzzed: a message from Ellie.

"Hey, Robin. How are you? Why didn´t you say goodbye to me yesterday? I know I was asleep, but you could have woken me up. Anyways, thank you for keeping me company yesterday. Ellie"

Ellie- this was complicated too. She´s Barney´s daughter after all which doesn´t make things any easier. Robin really likes Ellie, but there is a little part of her that wishes more than ever that she would have never divorced Barney. It would have been far more easier now, there would just be her and Barney. No complications, no other people who would be affected if they fight or something. In addition to that it hurts her to see what a loving father Barney is for a child that isn´t hers. She feels awful to think things like that, but she kind of wishes Barney either had her child or no child at all. She couldn´t get children with him, so she finds it pretty unfair some other bimbo is allowed to get a little Stinson-baby after one stupid one-night-stand. Her mind trails away to her pregnancy scare and her and Barney´s two children she imagined that cold and sad winter day. Back then, she convinced herself, she is glad they aren´t real. That didn´t change that much because that way her career would have been dead- she´s sure of that. But she can´t quite turn off this teensy-weensy-little part of her that wished she and those two children would live with Barney in his apartement today. And what hurts the most is that Ellie is likely to look very similar to her imagined daughter when she is older. That kills her. It´s not that she wants Ellie to go away, she just wishes she would be hers. She wants Ellie to be her child that Barney loves so much.

Suddenly one of her dogs jumps on her lap. She pets his head, what calms her down and she finally takes that dumb phone of hers in her hands again. Robin scolds herself. What happened to her? She sits here with tears in her eyes afraid of opening a stupid text message and thinking about children she will never have. That´s not her. She´s an independent women, she doesn´t need children to be happy. She has a career she can be very proud of and she has had an awesome life. Great friends, great memories and a great husband. Her life was great, the only fatal mistake she made was getting a divorce from Barney. However, most of her life was absolutely nothing to be ashamed off (though her Robin Sparkles days still kind of haunted her). She always got what she wanted and she decides that this won´t change now. She will get Barney, she will try to be good stepmother for Ellie. If Barney doesn´t want her, it will surely devastate her, but she won´t regret it, because it would be far worse, if she doesn´t try it at all. She needs certainty, that´s all that counts. Of course she wants to spend her life with Barney, but she is a strong woman. It won´t be easy, if he really decides to refuse her again, but she will make it through it. It would be a happier life with Barney, but she doesn´t need a man to have a fulfilled life.

However, all her fears that Barney may refuse her go away instantaneously when she opens his message. A big smile spreads upon her face. She saw a movie once, a romantic comedy with Jennifer Aniston. When she watched it back then, she found it far too cheesy, but after all she finally understands the quote of the movie. "I can live without you. I just don´t want to.", is what Jennifer Aniston said to her boyfriend at the end of the movie. She never thought that quote would once fit her, but now it does- she is strong and independent. Of course she can live without Barney – she just doesn´t want to.


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: Thank you so much for all your reviews. you guys are really sweet, I enjoy every single one of your reviews. Also a big thank you to all the guest- reviewers who I sadly can´t thank via private messaging.**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, I try to update sooner this time. Looking forward to your reviews. (BTW: I will update "the Nanny" soon too, sorry for the long wait)**

Barney drags himself out of bed, when he hears the doorbell ring. His head hurts terribly and his mood is at a very low point as he heard nothing from Robin yet. It hurts that she seems to have given up on him. There´s still a little part of him that hopes she will change her mind and phone him, but at the same time he tries to suppress that feeling in order not to get hurt again. However, his mood changes instantaneously, when he opens the door and Robin flings her arms around his neck. He is still sleepy, but he recovers soon and hugs her back.

Robin whispers, "I´m so sorry. You know I´m the indisputable master of running away from relationships."

Barney chuckles, "Thank god, I´m the master of the possimpible and therefore the only one who makes the master of running away coming back to me."

Robin breaks the hug, "Still you owe me an explanation."

"Oh my god, slow down, Robin. I got out of bed five minutes ago. I went to the door and get jumped at by a crazy lady. I haven´t had time for figuring out an explanation yet."

Robin laughs and boxes his shoulder playfully.

"Ouch. Scherbatsky, no need to get violent.", Barney whines.

"You´re an idiot.", She laughs.

"What makes two idiots in one room. Gosh, we make a great coupling.", Barney answers.

"Robin!", Ellie screams and interrupts their playful banter by jumping into Robin´s arms.

"You didn´t say goodbye yesterday! That was so not nice, I hope you´re aware of that."

"I´m really sorry, Ellie. But I read your message, that´s why I´m here. I wanted to apologize."

"That´s why you are here?", Barney interrupts, "I thought you came because of MY message." Barney pouts like a child to annoy Robin, well aware she of course came because of him and his message too.

Robin catches up on it and answers, "Sorry, bro. I came because of Ellie" she winks at him.

"I think she likes me more, dad. Sorry."

"Oh well, I think I can´t win against you, sweetie.", Barney says to his daughter.

"How are you, Ellie? Do you feel better already?", Robin asks.

"Yes, I think so. I´m still dizzy and my cold is still there, but I feel a lot better. You´re a great nurse."

"Oh, yeah, seems like it. Thank you, again.", Barney says to Robin.

"You guys are welcome, I´m glad you feel better, Ellie."

"What do you guys think about breakfast? I´m starving.", Barney suggests.

"I´m in.", both Robin and Ellie answered.

"What do you want?", Barney goes into the kitchen.

"I don´t think I want something out of your kitchen. As far as I remember, everything you have in your fridge are some expired, canned beans and some Nutella."

"Hahaha, very funny, Scherbatsky. Tell her what great breakfast I always serve, Ellie."

"It´s true. Dad makes awesome breakfast."

"Okay. I´ll give it a try.", Robin answers.

Ellie disappears in her room to get dressed.

"Hey, I´m sorry. I think we should wait with the talk until we have some time together. Just the two of us.", Barney says

"Yes, maybe you´re right.", Robin answers. She knows it´s better to talk in peace with him and not when Ellie is around, but she´s a little bit disappointed though. She thought, they could finally figure things out. She doesn´t want to wait anymore. Who knows how long it will take until they can talk alone. But Barney calms her.

"You know what? Ellie is away for a few days. She´s going on a trip to Philadelphia with her class. And I know what you want to ask, I don´t know either why they go to Philly, but fact is, she won´t be there next week for about five days, so maybe we could postpone our talk until then? You can even stay overnight", Barney grins and winks at her.

Robin tries to hide her smile and give Barney an "Oh come on"- look, but it doesn´t really work and she agrees to postpone their talk. Before she can say another word, Ellie is back already.

Barney cooks them some waffles and they have a nice breakfast together. Robin is a little bit nervous, but also happy that it seems like things get finally better for her. She looks at Barney and Ellie while they´re exchanging their maple syrup and Nutella waffles and smiles – She could totally get used to that.


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: I´m a terrible updater, sorry. Have to prepare a lot for University, so please excuse my irregular updates. I will try to make the next chapter extra-Long as an excuse. Anyway, have fun with this chapter! R&amp;R please!**

** Sam: Thank you for all of your nice reviews. So glad you like this Story this much. It´s a pity I can´t write you a private message, that´s why I mention you this way :) **

** everybody who comments as a guest: thank you so much for your sweet reviews. They mean a lot to me and I´m so glad you are waiting eagerly for new chapters. I hope I can get up to your expectations.**

** everybody else: All of your reviews are very welcome and if you have any questions or some comments, Keep them coming. I´m glad for every single one!**

The days went by quickly and soon the important day has come. She will visit Barney tonight and the two of them will be alone for the first time in years, because Ellie went to Philadelphia with her class very early in the morning. She can´t concentrate at work and she even catches herself smiling uncontrollably in the middle of the day. "Holy, I act like a 15-year-old on the night before her first date", she thinks and scolds herself to stop thinking about tonight and concentrate on her work instead. But as it seems, she doesn´t do a very good job on concentrating on her work, because suddenly her colleague Bethany asks, "What is wrong with you? You look like you took some happy pills", she winks. Robin blushes and answers, "Uhmm no, I just got some really good news. Maybe I get a new puppy anytime soon." It was a total lie, but she would rather die than talk to an almost stranger about her ex-husband she has a date with tonight. Bethany eyes her suspiciously, but lets it go. She seems to realize Robin won´t tell her the truth.

The last two hours went by really slowly, but finally she can go home. Robin struggles whether she should pack some stuff in case she will stay overnight. But she decides against it, because she fears Barney may could misinterpret it. So she only takes her small black bag in which she puts her toothbrush, her cell and some money. However, the next problem is not far away. Robin can´t decide what she should wear. She can´t even put on some underwear, because she doesn´t know which one. She doesn´t want to pick a slutty one, so Barney doesn´t think she needs to get laid so badly, but she also refuses to put on some old underwear. There is a good chance they will sleep with each other, so she won´t risk some comments about grandmother-panties from Barney. She finally settles for a red bra and a suiting slip and pulls out some dresses. Robin picks a beautiful, but simple dark blue dress, brushes her hair and puts some lipstick and mascara on. Without another look, she leaves her flat quickly, because she is already a little late and the cab she hired a few minutes ago is already there too.

When she rings the doorbell, Barney opens instantaneously. "Wow, that was quick. Hi, Barney"

"Hey, yeah, I was already waiting for you"

They smile at each other sheepishly and Barney lets out another "Hi". Robin can tell she totally picked the right dress when she sees how Barney looks at her.

"Can I come in maybe?"

Barney laughs, "Oh of course, sorry. Come in. Make yourself comfortable. I cooked some dinner, so I hope you´re hungry."

"I´m starving"

"Good to hear. I made some pork with vegetables and fries."

"Wow, I´m impressed. First breakfast and now you even cook dinner."

"Never underestimate Barney Stinson"

"I would never dare to do that", she smiles.

"You don´t have to stand around, you´re allowed to sit down"

But Robin doesn´t think of sitting down. She gets closer to Barney and whispers, "Thank you for the invitation" and puts her arms around his neck. Barney of course likes where this is going and lays his hands on her hips. Robin places a soft and careful kiss on his lips. He looks in her beautiful blue eyes when the quick kiss is over and they start swaying slowly, aware that every word would be too much in this moment. Both Barney and Robin are reminded of the time when they swayed like this at MacLarens when they wanted to replace Marshall and Lily as the perfect couple.

They don´t know how much time they just swayed in each other´s arms, their foreheads pressed to each other, their hands softly laying on each other´s bodies. Robin kind of wishes this would never end and also Barney seems kind of annoyed when suddenly they smell something burnt and he has to let go of her.

"Sorry", he whispers, "I think the dinner is more than ready"

They let go of each other and Barney looks after the meal. Fortunately, it is only some fries that were burnt, so their meal isn´t in danger. After getting some plates, forks and knives, they finally start eating and that is only the beginning of a wonderful evening.


	24. Chapter 24

**an: please forgive me for being such an awful updater, a lot is going on, but I try my best to update more often. As an excuse, this is a longer chapter. Thank you for your awesome reviews, I'm excited what you guys think about this chapter. Have fun!**

"I will never ever eat anything again!"

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!"

"Geez, Barney. I told you about a hundred times now that it was perfect. I just ate far too much!"

" Awww so you really liked it?"

"Oh my god, Barney, do you really need another hundred compliments?"

"Yes, of course. I mean I know I'm awesome, but still, the Barnacle is always up for some ego boost", he winks at her.

Robin chuckles, "You're an idiot"

As soon as Barney raises an eyebrow, she notices what she just said. She actually just told him that she loves him in the typical Robin way. She tries to ignore Barney's look, gets up from the couch and takes the dirty dishes into the kitchen.

Barney follows her, "what are you doing?"

"I wash the dishes."

"Haha, Captain obvious, the question is not what are you doing, but why you are doing it."

"I'm pretty sure you asked what not why."

"Robin, come on, you hate doing the dishes. And I invited you and you're at my place, so do me a favor and put the damn dishes away."

"But you cooked already, it's only fair when I do the washing up."

"Oh please. We both now you just do that now because you are afraid of looking me in the eyes. One moment you're super affectionate, in the next you're so ashamed of a few words that you can't even look at me. Could you please stop that, I'm getting a whiplash if you continue with that."

Robin stops, turns at him, looks in his blue eyes and asks, "okay, so what now?"

Barney steps closer to her, "maybe doing the dishes our special way", he whispers.

*back in 2015*

"I told you we should have ordered some pizza!"

"I thought you liked the food?"

"I did, but look around now. The kitchen is a mess, like our cooking skills!"

"Okayyy, we may needed some tries, but we managed to cook something eatable."

"Yeah, but... And don't get me wrong, I don't mind a little mess... But it really looks terrible. And the gang wants to visit us in about two hours, Barney! I think we don't even have some clean glasses left."

"Thank god we have a dishwasher."

"Yes, but no fairy godmother that will load it for us. So we have to do it."

"Or...or", Barney starts kissing her.

Robin starts laughing, but she doesn't let him go any further and pushes him away, "later, barney. The gang will be here soon"

"I want some dessert"

"I think we still have some chocolate anywhere in this house.", Robin winks at him and goes into the kitchen.

Barney follows her and grunts, "fine, we'll do the dumb dishes."

Robin loads the dishwasher and Barney puts the washing agent in it. Unfortunately, he is still grumpy, so he doesn't care how much he puts in.

They continue cleaning the kitchen together, when Robin finds another dirty glass and opens the dishwasher again. As soon as she opens it, a big surprise awaits her.

"Oh cool, so many bubbles!", Barney shouts out like a seven-year-old.

"Barney, what the hell have you done?", Robin screams.

"I just put some detergent into the dishwasher, as you said", Barney gives his best to stay serious.

"Oh yeah, I see. Some. Sure."

Robin tries to stop the mess, but she only gets her hands and arms covered in foam.

Barney watches her rather amused and says, "perfect. This is perfect."

Robin just eyes him angrily. "What is perfect?"

"You know, I love you and I love bubbles and now, right in front of me there is a Robin covered in bubbles!", Barney exclaims cheerfully.

Robin wants to be mad at him, but he is just too cute when his eyes sparkle full of joy, so she answers, "hahaha, very funny, Mister. I think I prefer a bubble-Barney" She takes a hand full of foam and rubs it into Barney's face.

Barney spits out the bubbles and laughs, "scherbatsky, you little minx, you get that back!"

It suddenly turns into a real bubble-fight, where both of them covered each other in foam instead of the dishes and the kitchen looks even worse than before. Robin giggles, "look what you did Barney".

"Wait, who did it? ME? You bubbled me first!"

"You deserved it, mister!"

"I did not!"

"Well, what should I do now?"

"I want you to unbubble me as an excuse."

Robin laughs, "You're such an idiot."

"I mean it. We should change clothes before the gang comes, we are all wet and foamy and bubbly."

"Are you just creating new words now?"

"Admit it, Scherbatsky, you love when I do that."

"Never claimed anything else", Robin answers with a big smile on her face when he pulls her close and kisses her.

Long story short, the gang stumbled into a wet and soaky kitchen while Barney and Robin were enjoying themselves in their bedroom.

*back in 2030*

Robin grins, "we have been really good at doing the dishes."

"Absolutely", Barney agrees but doesn't do anything else. He just stands there and looks at Robin.

Robin unsure why he doesn't make a move now, asks insecure, "Everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is perfect."

A weird silence spreads again until Robin can't take it anymore, "what is wrong, Barney?"

"What should be wrong?"

"Don't play dumb on me. We both know that you would already..."

"Already do what?"

"Kiss me!"

"Why?"

"WHY? Are you serious? You are Barney Stinson. Under circumstances like these you have usually been all over me at that point."

"I think it's your turn.", Barney simple answers.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I want to be conquered. YOU have to win MY heart now."

"You are kidding me right now, aren't you?"

"I tried to win your heart about a thousand times in the past and after YOU gave me an out, I think it's your turn to offer me an in again.", he grins at her devilishly.

She just stares at him, so he adds, "come on scherbatsky. Just for once, overcome your pride and make the first move"

"No."

Barney freezes, "what?"

Robin suddenly turns around, takes her bag and goes out of the apartement without another word. Barney stands in the kitchen, not sure what to do now, What did happen? Why did she react that way? He only wanted her to kiss him first. Is that such a bad thing? Barney sinks onto the kitchen floor not able to move. Did he ruin everything now? When he feels a bad headache coming and some tears in his eyes, he decides to finally get over it. It doesn't seem meant to be. If a few simple words calling for her action put her in such a rage it may be better for both of them not to rekindle their relationship. Barney drags himself up and goes into his bedroom, falls onto his bed and tries his best not to cry, but it doesn't really work. He lies around in his bed about an hour, when suddenly he hears a knock on the door. He refuses to open the door, nobody should see him like that. Suddenly his phone buzzes- it's a message from Robin containing the words 'Open the door!' Barney sighs, he is too tired and too disturbed for another discussion with her, but when she refuses to give up and continues knocking he finally stands up and opens the door. Robin stands before him with some cigars which are bounded in her hands. "These are for you", she gives him the cigars, "I doubted flowers would be the right choice, so I decided to get you a bouquet of cigars." Barney stares at her, obviously confused, "what the hell, Robin?"

"Do you really think I kiss you just because you tell me to? I have my pride and I make moves my way. You should know that, Stinson. I hope the bouquet of cigars is enough conquering for you... At least for now. I'll think about something more special soon, but I didn't have time for something special right now, because I waited so many years now and I just want to kiss you, you idiot", she says and before he can say or do anything, he finds Robin's lips on his, her hands on his face and her body pressed to his. They stumble into his bedroom and after 14 years both of them are finally in bed together again after sharing it with some meaningless flings or being alone in it for all these years. And the night was indeed legendary.


	25. Chapter 25

**AN: IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ: Hey guys, I Need your opinion. Barney and Robin are finally back together now and I have to choose between two Options: 1. I will end this Story within the next chapter OR 2. I´ll Keep going for a while and also write about the reactions of the gang and what happens to them. So what do you think? Short or Long Version? Please tell me in a Review (of course Reviews are also very welcome for this chapter, I hope you like it)**

The next day feels like a cheesy scene in a movie. Robin gets woken up by the shafts of sunlight. She lies in Barney´s arms, snuggling against his body. She looks at him admiringly and gets up quietly afterwards to brew some coffee. Shrouded in Barney´s shirt, she enjoys the first coffee of the day in the kitchen of Barney. The Barney Stinson. Robin smiles at the thought of the previous night. She feels kind of embarrassed because she thinks like a teenager and acts all lovey-dovey, but she doesn´t care anymore when Barney suddenly wraps his arms around her waist from behind and kisses her cheek.

"Good morning, beautiful."

"Hey", Robin turns around to give him a soft kiss.

"How did you sleep?", he asks when he puts a strand behind Robin´s ear.

"Really well. Better than ever to be honest"

"Me too", he smiles.

They kiss again and in-between kisses Barney asks, "So what now? Do we have breakfast, brunch or do we go to the bedroom again"

"You really have to ask that? It´s been years, Barney", she smiles and drags him to the bedroom.

Afterwards they decide to go outside and have brunch. It reminds them of the first time they had brunch together when they first were a "real" couple. Both of them are over the moon that the happy times seem to be back now. They spend the whole day wandering around the streets of New York, relaxing in Central Park, having dinner in a nice restaurant and kissing a lot along with handholding all the time. Exhausted, but happy they arrive at Barney´s apartment again. Barney gets them two glasses of scotch and both of them fall on the couch. They clink glasses and Robin says,

"Thank you. It was great fun today."

"I think so too. I always have fun with you", Barney smiles, reminiscing the old times when they hung out in the strip-club together. Instead of answering, Robin grins and kisses him, then she answers,

"Me too". The short conversation ends in the bedroom again.

When Robin seems to fall asleep after their lovemaking, Barney nudges her.

"Don´t sleep already"

"Why not?"

"Oh come on, grandma. It´s only 10pm."

"So? I´m tired"

"Awww. You´re not used to that much awesomeness anymore, huh? We have to change that and spend more time together", he whispers and kisses her cheek. When the kisses wander down to her neck and shoulders she stops him.

"I know, I have to get used to your awesomeness again. But now you have to let me sleep, so I can gain energy for another day full of awesomeness.", Robin says playfully.

"What about another round?"

"Are you serious? We did it about a hundred times already. You can´t want another round."

"Oh, I want. Maybe not with everyone, but for you I´m always more than ready."

"You´re unbelievable", Robin giggles.

"Back at you", he smiles.

When they´re done, Barney suddenly asks, "I don´t want to be a moment-killer or something, but what are we doing now?"

"Sleeping maybe?", Robin suggests, though she knows very well what he really means.

"No, not that. What are WE, the both of us doing with our relationship."

"I like it the way it is now", Robin says when she strokes and kisses his chest.

"Don´t even try it, Robin. We have to talk about it sooner or later."

"I´m for later"

"But if we talk about it now, we don´t have to think about it anymore and can enjoy our alone-time even more."

"Not possible", she smiles.

"This is not working, Robin", he tries to say that in a strict voice, but he can´t hide his amusement.

"Okay", Robin sighs, "What do you want to talk about? We´re back together. End of story. Thank you and good night."

"Haha, very funny, Scherbatsky. You know it´s not that easy anymore. I have a child now and it will affect her no matter what. In addition to that, I´m sure we can´t hide from Marshall and Lily and maybe even Ted for forever."

"Yes, I know."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are you in?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want this relationship? Are you ready for being a stepmother? Are you ready for facing our friends? Are you ready for taking this risk again? With me?"

"Yes, of course. I thought that´s obvious."

"Great"

"That´s all you have to say?"

"That´s all I needed to hear, so I don´t need anymore words to comment it."

"Cool. That was easier than I thought."

"I think the tough times will come soon."

"I think so too. But I don´t want to think about that now and let it ruin that day. It sure will be difficult with Ellie and everything, but we are Barnman and Robin. There´s nothing we can´t do as long as we´re together."

"True. As long as we are together", Barney says and both of them fall asleep in each other´s arms with big smiles on their faces.


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: Sorry for the long wait! My laptop was broken and it´s difficult to write a story on your phone.**

**As most people told me they want this story to continue for a little while, I decided to go for the longer version. I will write the reactions of the gang and will tell what will happen in the next few years to give this story a proper ending. I hope you´ll also continue reading and most of all I hope you´ll still love the story in it´s longer version. I really try to write it as in character as possible and not to mess it up like they did in the ****failnale (as some people including me, like to call the finale). So enjoy and review please! Thank you for reading!**

Robin stands in her living room waiting for the clock to strike 6 p.m. Today, Ellie came back home, but she and Barney decided it would be for the better if Barney talks to her about them being together instead of confronting her with Robin already being at their place. Barney said he would pick her up and talk to Ellie and that Robin should come over and join them later. Now it´s 6 o´clock and she should be already on her way, but she is really afraid of going. What if Ellie doesn´t want her and her dad be together? Would Barney let her down? She doesn´t want to suffer from another Barney-break-up. Sure, she and Ellie got along very well when she looked after her or when they talked about all kind of stuff, but after all this will be a turning point in their relationship. She will think she wants to take her dad away from her, that she wants to take her place. But that is not true. Not at all. She just wants her approval.

After a while of walking around she finally decides to go over to Barney and Ellie. She is sweating and also shaking a little bit when she arrives. When she knocks on the door, Ellie opens it.

„Hi", Ellie says. Robin can´t tell whether she is happy or sad or upset.

„Hey, Ellie. How are you? How was your trip?"

„It was really great. Me and my class had a lot of fun."

„That´s great."

„It was."

Both of them just stare at each other not sure what to say anymore.

Robin finally asks, „Where is your dad?"

„He is getting some pizza."

Robin´s heart sinks. She´s alone with Ellie now? Is Barney serious?

„Oh, okay. Then maybe I should come by later."

„No, you don´t have to. Dad should be here any minute. Come in and make yourself comfortable."

„That´s sweet of you. Thank you.", Robin enters the apartment and sits down on the couch in the living room. Ellie joins her and they look at each other awkwardly.

„Where is all your stuff?", Ellie suddenly asks.

„Umm, in my bag is all I need."

„This is all the stuff you have? There´s no way every clothing I saw on you is in this bag."

„You´re right. It isn´t." Robin answers confused.

„So where are all your clothes?"

„At home. In my wardrobe."

„I thought your new home is here with me and dad."

„Ohhh", Robin now finally gets why Ellie is asking all these questions, „I´m not moving in, honey."

„But dad asked me if it´s okay when you join our family. He said we will be three people in this household now."

„He did? Honey, I think he just meant that I will come over more often to spend time with you guys. I´m not moving in. Not yet."

„Why not yet?"

„Ummm, I don´t know, because..."

„You said not yet. That means you intend to move in with us soon. So why not now?", Ellie interrupts her.

„Woah, Ellie, slow down. Your dad and I just... look, we really like each other..."

„I know"

„So, we want to spend more time together and look if we´ll work as a family."

„I still don´t see the reason why you´re not moving in."

Robin eyes her, „Ellie, before we are talking about moving in and everything... Are you okay with this?"

„With what?"

„Ellie, come on, you know what I mean."

„It´s okay, Robin. Really. I think you make a good couple. I thought I made that clear when we talked about the reason why you and dad split up. Just one thing, no wait, two things: 1. Please don´t be that scary and evil stepmother you always hear about in movies and stuff. 2. Never hurt dad again and let him down. I always recognized how hurt he was when someone mentioned marriage.

„I´ll try", Robin says with a sincere voice.

„Don´t try. Do it! That´s also one of dad´s phrases."

„It is? I always thought his only phrase is... „It´s gonna be legen... wait for it...dary."

„Oh wow. That´s weird."

„Did you never hear that before?"

„I can´t remember him saying this."

„Really? He said that all the time. That´s why your cousin Marvin´s second name is „wait for it"."

Ellie bursts out into laughter, „His second name is wait for it?"

„Yes, did your dad never told you that? He was so proud of Marvin Waitforit Eriksen.", Robin starts laughing too.

Suddenly the door opens and Barney comes in, „Hey my two favourite ladies. Seems like you two have a lot of fun together."

„I told Ellie Marvin´s full name", Robin explained. „Why have you never told her that story? Plus, she doesn´t now your popular legen...wait for it...dary-phrase? I´m disappointed by you, Stinson."

„Yes why did you never tell me, dad?"

„We haven´t seen Marvin like forever. And I told you when you were younger, but it seems like you couldn´t remember it or were too young to understand it. And concerning my legendary-thing... That was a huge part of my single life. I didn´t think it would be appropriate to continue using that catchphrase with my daughter when it always marked my single life."

„It didn´t mark your single life only", Robin reminds him and smiles.

„True. I changed it to legendary when... back in the day when there was no need to wait for it anymore."

„Wait for what?", Ellie asks.

„For that special someone who will always love me no matter what.", He looks at Robin now, „Sadly that person disappeared for a while, so I also stopped using the phrase."

Robin is truly moved and gulps, „But there is a second chance for everything, right? Life doesn´t always go like we except it, sometimes it can be good to run back to the past."

„Right. Because sometimes new is not better. Sometimes a new chance for an old relationship is the best choice.", Barney smiles.

Robin smiles back. Ellie is not sure what the two grown-ups talk about anymore, but she doesn´t mind. She can see how happy her dad is. There is a glow in his eyes and something she hasn´t seen before in his smile that lets her know that Robin is the right woman for her dad. The right woman to become her stepmother.

„I don´t want to interrupt your weird conversation, but I´m hungry. I thought we are going to eat some pizza.", Ellie says.

„Oh yeah. Let´s eat some pizza."

The three of them eat their dinner, when Barney asks,

„Have you been here long before I came back?"

„Oh no, don´t worry. Ellie entertained me while we were waiting.", Robin answers.

„Great. What did you talk about?"

„About Robin´s clothes", Ellie blurts out.

„About clothes? Wow, that girly thing took over my place really quickly."

„Haha, very funny.", Ellie rolls her eyes, „you just explained the situation to me very poorly. I thought Robin is moving in with us. I still don´t know why she isn´t though."

„That´s a good question. Why won´t you move in with us, Robin?"


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey guys! I know this chapter is very short, but I will update a new one soon, I promise! I hope you enjoy it anyways. And I will update my other two stories "The Nanny" and "Web-Romance" soon too, so check out if you want!**

Robin stares at Barney. „To be honest, I just didn´t think about it moving in with you. I thought we will be together a little bit and all those things and then we´ll talk about moving in."

„How long do you wanna wait, Robin? We already waited for forever to finally be together. I don´t see any reason why we should wait then."

„Ok, fine. You´re right. I´m moving in.", Robin smiles.

„You do? Oh my god, this is great. You can help me with my hairstyles! Oh and am I allowed to borrow your make-up?", Ellie interrupts.

„No, of course not!", Barney answers, before Robin says a word „You´re too young for make-up, Ellie!"

„I´m not, dad!"

„You are!"

„Sometimes you´re only embarassing!"

„Excuse me?"

„Some of my friends already wear make-up."

„Ellie, please. We don´t have to fight about this now, we talk about it later, ok?"

„Okay. I´m going to my room."

Ellie leaves and Barney and Robin are alone now.

„Are you sure, you can deal with everything of this stepmother-thing? I know, Ellie can be complicated sometimes and she is really stubborn, but she can also be sweet and funny."  
„It´s okay, Barney."

„Are you sure? If there´s any reason you´re not ready for this, just tell me."

„I´m sure, believe me. You were right before. We´ve waited so long, there is no reason to wait any longer."

„I´m glad to hear that", Barney grins.

„And I hope you´re okay with it too?"

„Of course. I can´t wait for it!"

„Great"

„Great"

They look deeply into each other´s eyes and their lips touch softly.

„I just hope, you and Ellie won´t band together against me.", Barney laughs.

„You´re such an idiot.", Robin smiles.

„I love you too", Barney says and kisses her again. Robin stops the kiss, takes his head into her hands, looks into his eyes and says sincerely, „I really do love you, Barney. I hope you know that. I think I should´ve told you that more often when we were married, but I won´t make this mistake again. So, I love you, Barney"

„Thank you", he smiles, „I love you too, Sparkles."

Robin makes faces at him and kisses him again.

Two months later:

Robin has finally moved in with Barney and Ellie and everything is going really well. All of them get along and Barney and Robin are as much in love as they have been years ago – if not even more.

One friday, Robin is at home alone. Barney is at work, Ellie at school, but she is working from home today. She loves the apartment and feels very comfortable in her new home with her new family. She is typing on her laptop, when suddenly she hears a knock on the door. Robin is wondering who that could be, but she guesses it´s the postman or something. When she opens the door, her mouth falls open – as the mouth from the visitor does. It´s Lily.


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: Lily and Robin talk. Enjoy! R&amp;R**

**Silver: Thank you so so much. Here is the first gang member that reacts. Hope you like it. I think Marshall and Ted will be more difficult though.**

„Oh, hi...uhhh, whaaa... Hey."

„Heyyy, Lily. How are you?"

„I´m fine, thank you. I... actually I wanted to see Barney."

„Yeah, I thought so. Sorry, he´s at work."

„Oh okay. No problem, I´ll come back later."  
„You don´t have to. He´ll be here in about an hour or so. You can stay here meanwhile. Only if you want, of course."

„That would be very nice, thank you.", Lily enters the room.

When Lily sits down, Robin asks, „Do you want some coffee? Or anything else to drink?"

„Coffee would be great, thank you."

Robin prepares some coffee and milk for both of them and sits down as well.

„So, everything is fine?", Robin starts the conversation.

„Yes, it is." Silence spreads.

„Robin, what is going on?"

„What do you mean?"

„Don´t play stupid, Robin. You know what I mean. You´re here at Barney´s again. I haven´t seen you in years and now I saw you twice, both times with or at Barney´s. What is going on?"

„Barney and I are together."

Lily gasps. She somehow expected something like that, but to hear Robin admitting it changes things.

„You are WHAT? Why didn´t you tell me? Since when? And how? Are you living here already? I thought maybe Barney and Ellie are on holidays and you´re sitting their house."

„No, I´m not sitting the house, I´m living here. I moved in about a month ago and it goes very well."

„Why didn´t you tell me last time?"

„Because I wasn´t with Barney at that time. We were bonding again, but not dating or anything."

„Why didn´t you tell me?"

„Seriously? After the desaster last time?"

„I know things escalated, but we felt really sorry afterwards. Plus, it was Marshall that acted so bad, I never did. I just wanted to know what´s going on."  
„Yeah, but when I tell you, Marshall knows and when Marshall knows, Ted does too. I didn´t want to start that whole drama again. I and Barney are in love, you support us, Ted acts weird and jealous and Marshall is on Ted´s side as always. Everyone is taking sides and everyone intervenes in our relationship. Barney and I don´t want that anymore. We are grown-ups and we don´t want any tips on how to have a perfect relationship. We are having a perfect relationship! Not in a Lily/ Marshall or Ted/ Tracy way, but in our Barney/ Robin way, that maybe is only good for us. But Barney and I are the only people in this relationship, so the only thing that matters is that we are happy. Not you, not Marshall, not Ted. I appreciate your advice, but not everything that is right for you and Marshall, is right for me and Barney. We are totally different than you and Marshall."

„I know, I know, but still. You could have told me! I´m sorry if we intervened in your relationship too much, but I, for my part, can say that I only did that because I wanted you guys to work out. I love you guys and I just wanted you to be happy. And you know I´ve always been Team Barney/Robin, not Ted/Robin. I really mean that!"

Robin smiles, „Thank you, Lily. It´s good to hear, you support us."

„I totally do. I just want you to be happy. And as it seems, you and Barney are happy together. You two always find back to each other and that´s beautiful, somehow. I think you´re the perfect match."

„I think so too. Thank you, Lil."

„You´re very welcome."

The two of them hug each other and smile.

„I´m glad we figured that out. I missed you so much, Robin. You are my best friend after all, I hope you know that."

„Now I know. You´re also my best friend and I missed you very much too, believe me. There have been so many times, where I wanted to call you or talk to you or just watch a movie with you."

„Me too! We have to meet more often and talk about everything!"

„Yeah right! That´s a good idea!"

Suddenly, Brody comes in and barks at Lily.

„Oh, who is this?", Lily asks, when she strokes Brody.

„That´s Brody. Ellie´s dog and Barney´s. Also mine now, I think."

„Oh, he´s so cute."

„Yes, but also the worst watchdog in the world. We´re playing with him a lot in the park, but when he´s at home, he´s sleeping most of the time. And he almost never barks, when someone knocks on the door. He only gets up for food."

„Awwwww, I would do that too if I were a dog."

„Yeah, me too, I think", she laughs, „Wait a minute, I´ll feed him."

„Yeah, of course."

As Robin walks into the kitchen, suddenly the door goes open and Barney walks in, saying, „Where is the sexiest woman in the world? We exactly have two hours until Ellie comes home. So what do you wanna do... oh no... wait... the better question is: Where do you wanna do it?", Barney chuckles about his own joke. In the moment Robin answers with, „I don´t know, but surely not in the living room, because we have a guest", Barney sees Lily sitting on their couch.

„Wow, the last time I saw you I thought you´re the worried father who acts very grown-up now, but as it seems, I was wrong, you haven´t changed a bit.", Lily laughs and shakes her head at Barney.


	29. Chapter 29

**AN: So sorry, guys. so much is going on right now, I have barely time to write and update. I have some x-mas-holidays soon, so I hope I can catch up on all my stories soon. I hope you still enjoy reading anyways and forgive me my rare updates. Marshall and Ted´s reactions will follow next chapter. So keep holding on ;-)**

**to BRoSwarkels95: Awww thank you so much. Ikr? I wasn´t far away from throwing my laptop out of the window when watching the finale. I´m a huge ****sparkles-shipper (as you may have realized by now ;-)), so I think it´s unforgiveable what Carter and Craig did to us. Building up a ship for years, making a whole season of the wedding of the same couple, showing us how perfect they are and they are soulmates and then they are divorcing them? Worst joke ever. Anyways, I´m so glad I can show you some new aspects of the characters as I see them. Thank you so much for reading my story! You will see Marshall´s and Ted´s reactions soon. Xo**

**to Guest: Awww thank you. Lots of love back to you, sweetheart 3**

„Lily? What are you doing here?"

„It´s nice to see you too, Barney."

„No, I didn´t mean it that way. I´m just surprised."

„...and disappointed you can´t bang now, right?", Lily smirked.

„Yes, that too."

Silence spreads until Brody interrupts them when he´s running through the living room after finishing his meal.

Lily starts speaking again, „So, a lot of things changed, huh? A kid, a dog, a new girlfriend..."

„Since when is Robin new?"

„Uhhh, guys. You know, I´m present right?", Robin snaps.

„Okay, for real now – what do you want, Lil?", Barney changes the topic.

„I wanted to invite you to a dinner with the gang."

„Is your phone not working anymore?"

„It´s working perfectly. I just thought it would be nicer to ask you in person."

„Are we playing perfect friends now?"

„Barney, please."

„Please what, Lily? I remember the last time with you and Marshall and as you sure can remember he wasn´t excited at all to see me. And Ted. Ted hates me. I´m not in touch with him since forever except his call about him and Robin. So, I have absolutely no idea, why you are inviting me to a dinner now."

„Because I want us to be friends again! We have lost contact and I think it´s horrible. We spent so much time together and now we are barely talking. Please give this a chance. I will tell Marshall and Ted to behave. I promise! I love Marshall and Ted is a great friend to me, but I miss you two so much. I really do."

„So I´m invited too?", Robin asked.

„Of course you are!"

„Don´t you think that is a bad idea? We indeed had great times together and we have gone through so much, but maybe that was it. Maybe it just isn´t meant for us to be friends forever. Things change.", Robin says.

Tears start to come to Lily´s eyes now. „You just told me you missed me too and you want to be my best friend again, Robin."

„Yes, YOUR friend, Lil. I´m not sure the whole gang-dynamic is working now."

„I agree with Robin. They will judge us for being together again. I don´t want those interventions in our relationship again. I´m tired of the triangle thing with Ted.", Barney adds.

„Guys, PLEASE. I will talk to them. Just give me one dinner. Just ONE, okay? If it doesn´t work, feel free to ignore every other dinner-invitation of mine where Ted and Marshall are present."

Barney and Robin both sigh, but before they can bring up another excuse, Lily begs again, „PLEASE. Please, please, please. Do it for me. I´m your friend. By the way, you can´t get out of your guys relationship with me. I´m supporting you and I´ll stay friends with you."

Robin laughs and looks at Barney questioningly. „What do you think, Barn?"

„Just the thought of a dinner makes me cry. I hate complicated situations. And what about Ted. What if he hits on you AGAIN. I´m getting tired of it."

„I´m not very excited about it either, but our red-head kind of forces us with her big manga-eyes."

„Hey", Lily complains playfully.

„Okay fine."

„I promise, Ted can hit on me as much as he wants. I´m sure I´m meant to be with you, Barney, I´m sure of it now. Even if we are not meant to be, the thing that counts is that I WANT to be with you. Me and Ted will never work. End of story."

Barney smiles and leans in to kiss Robin. But when the kiss gets more intense, Lily interrupts them, „You guys are aware I´m still here, right?"

Robin stops the kiss, but giggles when Barney continues the kissing on her neck. She pushes him away softly and answers, „Sorry, Lil. So, okay. We´re coming. But keep your promise and tell them to be nice. Or there will be some dead bodies – it´s your choice."

Lily laughs, „I will talk to them."

„Great. So when´s the great dinner day supposed to be?", Barney asks sarcastically.

„Next weekend? Are you free?"

„Yes I think so."

„Yes, I should be free too."

„I just hope I find someone to look after Ellie, otherwise you have to excuse me.", Barney adds.

„You can bring her with you if you don´t find someone."

„Okay, great. Thank you."

„Thank you so much guys, you have no idea how much this means to me!", Lily squeals and hugs them.


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: The end comes near. There will only be 3 chapters at the most after this. This chapter is longer than the other ones have been, I hope you´ll enjoy it. Please, please tell me what you think, I hope I didn´t fall out of character too much. I had no time to proof-read it, so hopefully there are not too many mistakes in it. Anyways, have fun and please review!**

**to BRoSwarkels95: Thank you! I hope this chapter can live up to your expectations.**

The day is here soon and both Barney and Robin are nervous as hell. Ellie doesn´t understand the nervosity oft he adults at all. She is looking forward to seeing her uncles and aunt as well as her cousins. Although she never had much contact with them, she kind of wants to know how they are like.

When they knock on the door of the Eriksen-house they are both relieved when Lily is the one who opens the door.

„Heyyyyy, I´m so excited that you guys are actually here!" She hugs both Barney and Robin when she sees Ellie, „Awwww and Ellie is here too. Hi, sweetheart. How are you?", she gives Ellie a big hug as well.

„Come in, guys, come in. Go straight to the living room, all the other ones are already there."

Robin and Barney exchange annoyed looks – they are still not eager to meet Ted and Marshall. However, Ellie is excited and runs into the living room to greet everybody. When Robin and Barney enter the living room they see how Ellie talks eagerly to her cousins – Marvin, Daisy, Aly, Penny and Luke look at her suspiciously at first, but seem to like her. Ted and Marshall are sitting on the couch next to each other and the two of them as well as Barney and Robin take a deep breath. It feels so weird that they are all together again after all those years. Robin is the first to say hello to everybody and the kids are all excited to meet their aunt Robin again and also their uncle Barney of whom they heard a lot of cool stuff. Lily comes in checking whether all of them, especially the adults are getting along. Robin and Barney sit down on the other couch. After a short awkward silence Lily tells them, „Dinner is ready soon. 20 minutes top, I promise. Meanwhile you can talk a little bit. But save the good stories for later, so I can hear them too." She disappears into the kitchen again, the smaller children run out into the garden and the teenagers go upstairs into Marvin´s room which leaves Barney, Robin, Ted and Marshall alone in the living room.

As Barney promised to behave and be nice, he tries to start a conversation, „So, what´s going on, bros?"

„Nothing much to be honest. Just the job, the kids, marriage. Nothing changed.", Marshall answered and Ted added, „Same. Except the marriage thing. So, just the job and kids thing."

„Cool", Barney nods, not sure what to say anymore. Marshall looks down on his shoes, Ted tries to smile nicely at both Barney and Robin who don´t know where they should stare at or what they should say. Everybody is thankful when Marshall stops the silence and asks Barney, „So what´s going on in our life, Barney?"

„Nothing much either. I told you basically everything the last time we met."

Barney had better kept his mouth shut, because Ted asks confusedly, „The last time you met? When did you meet?"

„Oh some time ago.", Marshall answered while Robin and Barney don´t say anything.

„Why didn´t you tell me?"

„It was coincidental. We met at a restaurant."

„All of you?"

„Yes, we saw Barney and Robin with Ellie and then we talked to each other about the good old times and everything."

„Sounds nice."

After a short silence moment, Marshall apologizes, „I´m sorry, Ted. I should have told you."

„It´s okay. I´m just wondering why you didn´t tell me."

„It didn´t go that well.", Robin jumps in.

„Why?"

„We had some little discussion about...uhhhh...life. And that some people don´t have the right to interfere in other people´s lives because even when they are friends it is none of their business.", Robin clarifies not without sounding bitter.

Marshall is not willing to take that and snaps, „Maybe these people just care about the other ones and are afraid that someone´s getting hurt."

„Oh come on, we all know you don´t care about mine or Barney´s feelings being hurt. You are just afraid you´re loosing that stupid bet that is going on between you and Lily. It´s like the one time you couldn´t bear to see my name on the drinks-list of McLarens!"

„It´s so not about the bet! And that stupid Robin Sparkles drink was supposed to be mine!"

Ted whispers to Barney, „Is there something I missed."

„Just a little bit" Barney answers him, imitiating Dr. Sonya.

Marshall starts to scream now, „It´s not about the bet or the drink, Robin! You know what´s it about. After all those years of this stupid love-triangle, after all these times you hurt Ted, you really hurt him once again? You refuse him AGAIN and then you choose Barney, AGAIN! I´m sorry when I´m mad that you´re constantly let my best friend down."

„Wait, this is about me?", Ted asks.

Robin, ignoring him, yells at Marshall, „Okay. Once again, Marshall. THIS IS MY LIFE! I can do with it whatever I freaking want. Me and Ted cleared things out, he is over me and I never really loved him. I loved him like a friend, but not as a boyfriend. I chose Barney back then and it was the right choice. We had our troubles with each other, but we finally managed to find our way back together. Can´t you just be happy for us? Why is mine and Barney´s sake so unimportant to you? Why do you only care about Ted.", Robin now has tears in her eyes. She just can´t believe how Marshall only cares about Ted and would make everybody else unhappy, just for his sake.

When Marshall sees the tears coming to Robin´s eyes, he feels sorry and tries to alleviate the problem, „Robin... this is not true, okay? I want you and Barney to be happy as well. I just saw Ted pining for you all these years and you chose Barney. Barney, the womanizer who only used women for sex. I always thought you´d be better up with Ted and that he would make you happier. Not only that. I also thought Barney would be happier when he has no stable relationship and can bang as many women as he wants and can continue having legendary nights and trying out his plays. I just thought that´s the way it should be. You and Ted together having a family and Barney always being our single-friend who prevents us from becoming lame."

Robin calms down a little bit, but she is still mad, „Okay, Marshall. I know what you mean, but... things change. They don´t always turn out like you want them to be or like you see them. I know you´re a judge and maybe you kind of think you know what is best not only fort he environment but also for your friends, but the truth is.: you can´t control other people´s life. You can´t expect me to love Ted just because you think it´s the right thing. As well as you can´t expect Barney to bang different women and run plays until he´s 80. Life is strange, Marshall. As it seems, for you and Lily it was the best thing that could happen to marry the person you fell in love with at first sight, but that doesn´t mean it´s right for other people too. Lily and you were mature enough, but Barney and I had a lot of growing up to do. We didn´t fall in love at first sight, Barney and I became good friends, we realized we had a lot in common and that we have the same opinion on many things. We´re just right for each other. Love doesn´t make sense, it just doesn´t. I was a commitment-phobic, as Barney was. But we got together, we had a lot of growing up to do and then we got married. Sadly, it didn´t work out, because as much as we maybe have grown, we both had to do our own thing. I had my career and Barney got Ellie. But now we are ready to settle, we are finally ready for each other, so please, just accept it."

Marshall swallows hard. Robin is right. It´s not his life, he can´t decide what life or what partner is right for his friends. It´s their life, so he only says, „Okay."

Robin blinkst he tears out of her eyes and doesn´t say anything. She leans back into Barney´s arms who puts his arm around her and strokes her back. He kisses her forehead and whispers a „thank you" in her ears.

Marshall and Ted watch them and smile.


	31. Chapter 31

**AN: Hello guys! New chapter - the end is near. This chapter is focused on Ted and his thoughts, but don´t worry, it´s all about Barney and Robin. ;)**

**Hope you like it and as many reviews as possible are welcome!**

When dinner is ready, Robin and Barney go into the kitchen to help Lily. Before Ted wants to join them in the kitchen too, Marshall holds him back.

„Everything okay, buddy?"

„Of course. Why not?"

„Because of ... uh... you know... the Barney-Robin-thing."

„It´s okay for me. I swear. I can´t say it isn´t weird, but it is indeed okay. I always loved the idea of me and Robin... more than I actually loved Robin herself, I think. Back then, you and Lily got engaged and I still was that third wheel. I saw Robin, she was pretty and seemed to be nice. I decided to be in love with her because it seemed to be the right time for me. I wanted her to be the love of my life... the problem was: she wasn´t, she still isn´t. Robin was just at the wrong place at the wrong time... for me and her, I mean. She was totally at the right place at the right time for her and Barney and also for me and Tracy. She led me to her. Robin was right, when she said she´ll help me to find the right woman for me. She led me straight to Tracy, it took its time, but I couldn´t be happier about that. Unfortunately, our time was far too short, but she gave me the most amazing years of my life along with the two most perfect kids I could wish for. I was right, when I said, Robin is the One – she just wasn´t my The One, she is Barney´s. It took me a while to realize that and hell, it was hard, it was weird... it was heartbreaking to be honest. But through the years I got to know the real Robin. She was not the cool girl that was perfect for me... she was and still is a cool girl, but also she turned out to be a female Barney. She was commitment-phobic, she loves dirty jokes, she loves a good scotch, she loves weird sex, she is very competitive, she is a gun-nut... which is great for playing laser tag, she hates a dull family life and a typical marriage, she loves crazy adventures and also an advenurous relationship instead. She basically is the female Barney. Not to forget: she pined for him for years. I didn´t realize that... no wait, I did, I just didn´t WANT to realize it. I still thought she is my the one and ignored all the signs. All her pining looks, her laughs at every single joke Barney made, no matter how unfunny, their insider-jokes, their intense kissing when they were together, their childish behaviour. Those two are perfect for each other.

I hate myself so much for it, but at their wedding I confessed my love to her. That was so wrong. When Robin got nervous, I tried to talk her into the wedding again, but to be honest: even in that moment, I still hoped, she will realize that it will be a mistake someday and come back to me. I thought deep down she knows she belongs to me. But the reason why she was unsure about her wedding wasn´t me. She was unsure because all of us refused to see Barney as anything else as a womanizer, though he changed so much. Our constant jokes about Barney and his former lifestyle made her unsure, as well as her career did. She was afraid, she chose Barney over her career and that someday he might leave her and she will be all alone and all broken- without husband and without a career. That´s why I think they divorced to be honest. Barney tried his best to travel with her and support her, but she feared he would leave her because of that much traveling. So she worked and worked and worked and had less and less time for Barney. He wasn´t happy, she felt she was right, that Barney will leave her eventually, so they broke up. Though they still loved each other then. And that is so sad and so heartbreaking, that´s why I´m happy they found their way back to each other again. And I hope Robin´s lack of trust which probably is due to her father, is gone now and she can fully trust Barney now and that he´ll stay with her.

It took me years, far too many years, to realize all of that, but I´m glad that I finally did. You know, Robin and me kind of tried it again weeks ago, but I did a lot of thinking after that and I know now Tracy has been and will always be the love of my life. And Barney is Robin´s. Robin and I would have never worked. We would have always been each other´s second choice. Sadly, I can´t get my first choice back, but she can and she did and I´m happy for her she did."

„Wow, such a deep, philosophic answer for just a question. A simple „yes, it´s fine. I´m seriously happy for them" would have been enough.

Ted and Marshall both laugh, then Marshall adds, „I´m glad you told me all of this. I´m sure you mean it now, when you say, you´re okay with it."

„Now, let´s go join the others. I have a little announcement to make.", Ted grins.


	32. Chapter 32

**AN: As always, I´m sorry for the long wait, but I couldn´t write anything good. I´m not too happy with this chapter either, but it´s the best I can think of for now. I hope you´ll enjoy it anyways. There will be one last chapter, but I can´t promise you when I will post it. It´s the end of my first fan fiction after all and I want to write a nice and emotional end for it. I hope you´ll like it and will leave some reviews for me. I also hope it helps to come over the failnale of the actual show ;)**

As soon as all of them sit around the table and finish eating their meals, Ted suddenly stands up and says, „I want to tell you something, guys."

„Oh, noooo. Not today. I don´t want to hear any bad news today, we haven´t been together for years, don´t destroy it.", Lily interrupts him.

„I don´t have any bad news, Lil. Only good news.", he grins.

„Fine, spill it.", Lily sighs.

„Thank you. So, the thing is... you guys know I had problems getting over Tracy´s death."

„Oh come on. You´re depressing me! This is going into a sad direction."

„Lily, please! Don´t interrupt me!"

„Fine."  
„Anyways, I thought it may be a good idea, to establish a foundation in Tracy´s name. I want people to donate for medical research, so less people have to face loosing their loved ones to an illness."

„Wow, that´s such a great idea, Ted.", Marshall encourages him.

„Yeah, it´s so sweet, but also sad.", Lily says with tears in her eyes. Robin who sits next to Lily and rubs her back while wiping away some tears of her own cheeks.

Barney now stands up too and suddenly he goes over to Ted. The gang and the kids look at him confusedly, when Barney gives Ted a hug.

„That´s such a great idea. Tracy would be so proud of you. If that´s even possible, she would love you even more now.", Barney says.

Ted smiles at him, „Thank you. I´m glad you guys love the idea. And I would be the happiest man if I my TWO best friends in the world would join my next charity event."

Now Barney has troubles holding back his tears. Ted just really called him one of his best friends after all these years.

„Does that mean we´re friends again?", Barney asks cautiously.

„No, best friends. We are bros... if you can forgive me my childish behaviour. I´m sorry, I was so stupid years ago. I just..., I think I wasn´t aware of how much you are in love with Robin. I thought you will always be the same womanizer who doesn´t care about people, but I was really, really wrong. I´m truly sorry. I hope you can forgive me. Plus, I wish you and Robin all the best. I don´t think there is another couple in this world that is so meant to be as you guys are. Except, Lily and Marshall of course", he quickly adds when he sees Marshall and Lily´s faces, „But Lily and Marshall was a love-at-first-sight thing... and you and Robin, you two developed so much over the years, you guys kind of grow for each other. You grew from childish, commitment-phobic people to grown ups who did so much to make your relationship work. I know, you might not believe me anymore, as I always acted weird about your relationship and ran after Robin, but please, believe me, in all honesty, I admire you guys for finding back to each other after all these years. I know you never stopped loving each other and I´m glad you guys grew even more after your divorce, so you now are ready to stay together for forever now. I´m sorry for all I did against your relationship. And Robin, I´m sorry for running after you all these years. You just were kind of at the wrong place at the wrong time and I thought we were meant to be, but I was wrong."

Barney and Robin smile and say „thank you" simultaneaously.

„I feel like I´m stuck at some talk-show.", Penny says into the silence that has spread.

The gang laughs and Ted adds, „I´m sorry, Penny. Just one more thing. As I organized a charity event, I met some really nice manager called Sandy. I know what you think now – manager is not exactly my type, but we have so much in common you won´t believe it. She plans charity events and organizes all of it, it´s amazing. She loves buildings like I do – she loves to find perfect locations in old buildings for great partys, she loves those foreign films with english subtitles and, you won´t believe it, she has an even bigger coin collection than I have. Plus, Luke and Penny love her as much as I love her son Brandon."

„Oh wowowowow stop. How long is this going on. Why didn´t you tell us? It sounds like you´re already together forever.", Lily shouts.

Ted laughs, „Calm down, Lil. I haven´t known her for that long, but it just was..right, I guess. We are tuned to the same wavelength. I haven´t felt like this since I met Tracy and I think I can finally move on now. I will never forget her, she was the love of my life and she will always be the mother of my two beautiful children, but Sandy is a new beginning for me. I think that´s what I need and I will honour Tracy forever with my foundation."

„These are such great news, Ted. I´m really glad you can be finally happy again.", Robin says honestly. The others agree and all are really touched by Ted´s speech. For the first time in years, they can finally talk honestly again – they are finally real friends again.


End file.
